Crossing the Same River
by byrhthelm
Summary: Harm returns to DC after two tours in Europe to find that in his absence things have changed.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This story was inspired by the appearance of Zoe McLellan on the two pilot episodes of NCIS New Orleans. I thought that TPTB had missed an opportunity to have her reprise her character as former Legalman One Jennifer Coates now out of the Navy. TPTB no doubt had their reasons for not going that route, so I decided that if they weren't going to go there, I would. I have taken a couple of liberties with the time line. For example, if anyone cares to do the maths they'll figure out that I've added a couple of years to Mattie's age; it was deliberately done, and is not a mistake on my part.

The title is a reference to an old saying that 'you can't cross the same river twice'.

**Crossing the Same River**

Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs strolled into the NCIS bull-pen at his customary 0748 hours, "'Morning," he grunted to all and sundry, as he made his way towards his desk. But he stopped as the big, wall mounted LCD screen caught his eye as his ears caught the confused chorus of "Morning, boss" from the five agents on his team.

"Captain Harmon Rabb," he read the details on the super-sized Navy ID that occupied the bottom left hand corner of the screen, focussing his eyes on the photograph above it. "I remember him, he used to be stationed at Falls Church before JAG HQ moved back to the Navy Yard. He's a person of interest, probie?" he asked the agent holding the clicker.

"Yes boss, it's just been announced in 'Navy Times' that he's taking up a new appointment as Chief of Staff to Admiral Longstreet. So I figured we needed to get the low down on him. Sort of 'know your enemy'."

Gibbs eyed his junior agent severely. He was familiar with his newest agent's background and not only that, he thought he remembered the probationer from an investigation he had carried out nearly nine years ago and was pretty sure that his team's newest acquisition knew Captain Rabb. But he didn't feel like making a fuss over the issue so he let the excuse slide. "I know there's a fund of stories about how NCIS and JAG didn't used to get on, and that there was a lot of friction between the two agencies. But that was back in the day, and a lot of that friction was generated by personal antipathy between certain individuals. Those cases are ancient history, and we now have a good working relationship with the Navy JAG Corps!"

"Yes, boss, but if I remember the stories correctly, wasn't he one of the personalities involved in the friction?"

Jethro Gibbs considered the question carefully as he sought to remember that period. Nearly nine years ago now. He had been one of the other 'personalities' involved and he still felt aggrieved over one particular case. He had been under immense pressure to close, and close quickly, the attempted murder of another JAG officer, a Lieutenant Singer, and as a result he had rushed his investigation and arrested Rabb. In retrospect it was obvious that he had become target fixated, once he had made Rabb his suspect he hadn't even looked at any other possible suspects, and he admitted, but only to himself that he had then interpreted the evidence to support his theory instead of studying it objectively. He had, in short, wronged Rabb, and like many people, grew to dislike the person he had wronged. It made it easier for him to forgive himself that way. And of course he had never apologised to the naval officer; according to Gibbs' creed saying sorry was an admission of weakness. At length he nodded. "Yeah, Captain Rabb wasn't NCIS's greatest fan, but we did mishandle a couple of investigations that ended up focussed on him and both times he ended up being arrested for murder or attempted murder he wasn't guilty of, and on the second arrest it got as far as a court-martial and he came damn' near being sent to Leavenworth for life, so maybe he thought he had reason for his attitude. But that's all behind us now, so clear the screen and let's get down to today's business. Hood, have you finished that report on the Pickett case?"

"Yes, boss, coming right up!" Agent Samuel Hood, a tall, broad-shouldered former linebacker for North Carolina State and more recently a USMC Sergeant Intelligence Specialist, stood up from behind his desk and walked across to Gibbs' desk sliding a bulky folder across to his team leader.

"And?" Gibbs asked.

"Pickett has been charged with espionage, and his court-martial will proceed in due course. Presently he's in pre-trial confinement in the brig as a flight risk."

Gibbs nodded in satisfaction, "Good work, Hood! Anything else ready for me to sign off? No, well let's get to work people, and get some of these cases cleared up before we get landed with a new one! "

The chorus of "Yes, boss" was music to his ears and Gibbs allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction as he booted up his computer, ready for the day's work, even as he wondered what really lay behind the latest probie's interest in the new JAG Chief of Staff.

**xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

Captain Harmon Rabb sat back in his padded, leather, swivel-chair and contemplated his office. It had taken him a good twelve hours, spread out over the evenings of a working week to get it squared away the way he wanted. His helmet with the call-sign 'Hammer' stencilled across the front sat on top of one bookshelf, while on the other his models of an F-14D 'Tomcat' fighter and a Boeing-Stearman NS2 'Yellow Peril' biplane trainer faced each other, his diploma from law school and his framed bar certificates hung above one bookcase and his portrait of Admiral Frank Jack Fletcher frowned at them from the opposite wall. His familiar law books, in neatly arranged rows, lined those same bookcases. His office didn't rate a fireplace, but in addition to the pair of wing chairs in front of his cherry wood desk, a further pair flanked the coffee table off to one side, and a pair of photographs in silver Celtic knot work frames stood to one side of his desk.

He couldn't resist a grin, his office here as Chief of Staff to the JAG was far grander than either of the offices he had occupied as FJAG NAVFOREUR, first in London, and then for his second tour in Naples.

Shaking his head at his wool-gathering he reached for the file on top of the imposing stack in his in-tray and then at the last second changed his mind, and used a long index finger to stab the call button on his desk-top interphone, "Yeoman?"

"_Yes, sir_?" the young woman's voice came clearly to his ears. Technology he reflected had come a long way since Tiner's voice had been rendered tinny by the intercom system that Admiral Chegwidden had on his desk back in the days when JAG HQ was at Falls Church.

"Yeoman, do you think you could rustle me up a mug of coffee, please?"

"_On its way, sir_!" The cheerful rang confidently in his ear, and unseen by his new assistant, Harm could indulge in a smile. He had only known the young Yeoman Second Class for a week, but already he had discovered that she was cheerful, knowledgeable, competent, efficient and according to the handover from his predecessor, her sense of discretion was way beyond reproach, all qualities he considered to be vital for a senior officer's yeoman.

The coffee, which arrived with commendable speed, was eminently drinkable and Harm felt the effect as soon as he took his first sip. With a smile of satisfaction, he placed the mug on a coaster – he had no wish to see the perfectly polished finish of his desk marred by a coffee ring – and turned his attention back to the file on personnel matters he had started to read while he waited for his coffee.

He was not, however to be granted a lengthy period of peace to study the file, and he had barely begun to make pencilled-in marginal notes when the inter-phone buzzed gently.

**xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

The probationary NCIS agent licked her lips, which had suddenly become dry. She had signed in at the USMC manned PCP on the ground floor and had, as per standing orders, surrendered her firearm to the custody of the grim-faced Staff Sergeant on duty, who had duly locked it into a wall mounted secure box and handed her the key. There had been a slight clash of wills over the question of him announcing her visit, but she had finally impressed upon him that she needed to arrive at her destination without her target being given the opportunity to evade her.

Unhappy at having to bow to NCIS, Staff Sergeant Joe Johnston figured he had regained a measure of control over the situation as against the NCIS agent's protests that she could find her own way, he insisted that she have a Marine escort.

Corporal Santiago proved to be a taciturn Latino who apart from a muttered, "This way, please, ma'am," remained silent for the duration of the elevator ride to the fifth floor and the walk along the seemingly endless hallway.

At least reaching a half glass door emblazoned "Capt H D Rabb, USN, CoS", Santiago muttered again, "By your leave, ma'am" and executing a perfect heel-and-toe about-face retreated, leaving the increasingly nervous, despite her bravado, NCIS agent alone.

The double rap of her knuckles on the door frame was answered with a cheerful "Come in!"

The office seemed nearly as big as the NCIS bull pen, and shaking her head slightly at this evidence of how the other half lived, the agent crossed to the desk and smiled in greeting at the young, and pretty, she noted, Yeoman. She produced her badge and credentials and mumbling slightly introduced herself, finishing with, "I need to see Captain Rabb, if he can fit me in."

"One moment, please, ma'am." Diane Letterwood reached out and keyed the interphone's call button, "Sir?"

**xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

Harm frowned and with an impatient sigh he replied "Yes?"

"_Sir, there's an NCIS Agent to see you, an Agent Coors…"_

"Very well, send him in!"

The door opened and Harm stood to greet his visitor, but not he realised a male agent as he had automatically assumed, but a youngish woman smartly and stylishly dressed in a dark blue single breasted pants suit with a pale blue open-necked shirt worn beneath the jacket, a young woman who, despite her changed appearance – her pixie cut was a far cry from the luxuriant long tresses he remembered – he instantly recognised.

"Jen!" he cried in surprised pleasure, "Jennifer Coates!"

Jen stopped a couple of feet from him, "Hello Harm," she said shyly.

"Hello yourself…" he beamed, "But what… how… why didn't I… why didn't you or Mattie tell me…?" he stammered, his words tripping over themselves as he tried to construct a coherent sentence.

"First things first," Jen smiled, her heart bounding at the pleasure Harm had evinced at her visit, "Permission to hug the Captain?"

"Hell, Jen, you don't ever have to ask for that!" Harm grinned, as he opened his arms to her.

Jennifer stepped forward her arms going around as much of Harm's torso as she could reach, her face buried in his shoulder while she contentedly breathed in his clean and fresh masculine smell that she remembered from the t-shirts he had acquired from him, but that sadly over the years had either worn out or his scent had long since dissipated. In his turn Harm buried his face in her hair, inhaling the fresh floral scent of her shampoo.

For long moments they remained in each other's' arms, silently taking joy in their reunion, until Harm felt his body respond to the nearness of a beautiful woman after a long drought. Breaking the hug before, or so he hoped, that Jennifer had noticed his reaction he stepped back slightly maintaining a hold on her hands, "Just a moment, please."

He stepped to the door and stuck his head out into his Yeoman's office, "Yeoman Two, a fresh carafe of coffee, please, with two mugs, creamer and sweetener, and after you've delivered it, hold all calls, unless it's the Jag and tell any and all visitors, except the Jag that I am not available until further notice!"

Harm turned back to Jen and quite unconsciously placed his hand in the small of her back and guided her over to the pair of wing chairs that flanked the coffee table. He might not have been aware of what he was doing, but almost every square inch of Jen's skin tingled from the warm, light and very much appreciated pressure of his hand.

"So… an NCIS Agent?" he asked in confirmation as he guided her to one of the chairs and then waiting for her to sit, he followed suit.

"Yeah," Jen grinned. "It seemed like a worthwhile career after I quit the Navy and finished college."

Harm nodded, "I know you finished your hitch and didn't re-up, Mattie kept me clued in on that, but I thought you'd gone to work for the Admiral and were attending college at the same time?"

"I did both… I went to work for A J as his para-legal and he gave me time off work to attend college… He was very good to me, and it seemed like he had gone back to the way he was when I first joined JAG. But it was still pretty tough, long hours of study on top of the job, but I couldn't have gotten through college without that job and his help."

"You still in touch with the old ba… the Admiral?" Harm asked.

Jen smiled, "Yeah, he's got a law practice up at McLean and I drop by every once in while if I'm in the neighbourhood."

Harm shook his head, "A J Chegwidden, Esquire, Attorney at Law… I don't know, it's difficult to see him as a country attorney."

"He's enjoying it, Harm, it's low pressure and I think that has helped with his attitude readjustment. Face it, he did over two full four year tours as JAG, and I wouldn't mind betting that at the end there, the pressure got to him."

"Pressure?" Harm's eyebrows rose, "Jen, the man was a Seal!"

"Different kinds of pressure, Harm. I was closer to him in many ways than any of the officers at JAG and he occasionally let slip unguarded comments. I know that he knew he had made some mistakes, big mistakes, in his last year or so, that's partly the reason he retired when he did."

Harm nodded, knowing full well that Jen was obliquely alluding to the treatment A J had meted out to him over the Paraguay incident. That had long since ceased to rankle, and he was content now to let the matter lie, instead he turned the conversation back to its original course, "But what about you, Jen, why did you leave the Navy?"

"Well, you know I never intended to make a career out of the Navy, in fact, if you recall I wasn't given much choice over enlisting, so when my hitch finished I left without too many regrets." She shrugged slightly, "It wasn't the same at JAG once you and the Colonel had left. As people rotated out General Cresswell started filling billets with Marines instead of sailors, I guess he felt more comfortable that way. He replaced me with a Sergeant and moved me out into the bull pen, said I needed to concentrate more on the legal side of my duties instead of being misemployed as a Yeoman, a bit dumb of me maybe, but it felt like an undeserved demotion and well…. Anyway, A J had just started his legal practice and he heard through the legal network that I was looking for work as a para-legal, so he offered me the job. I was a bit wary at first, we had banged heads a time or two when I was his Yeoman, but I soon found that A J Chegwidden, Esquire was a version two point oh of Admiral Chegwidden. I enjoyed working for him, and I think he liked having me around, but the kind of work he was doing was pretty humdrum, and he could see it wasn't enough of a challenge for me, so he advised to look for something different. So I took his advice and I ended up at NCIS."

Jen hesitated a fraction, despite what she had said to Gibbs a few weeks ago, she was fully aware of the mishandled investigation that saw Harm facing murder charges, "And… I've been lucky. I've been handed a great opportunity, I've been assigned to one of three Major Case Response Teams, it's a great team, with a high arrest and conviction rate, they work pretty closely with JAG these days. I guess now that JAG has moved back to the Navy Yard it makes co-operation that much easier. There's six of us on the team, Tim McGee – he's a sweet guy, a real computer whizz, Tony DiNozzo, he's a bit of a player, but there's a rule about not dating fellow employees, so apart from the odd comment, he's pretty harmless, and there's El Bishop, she's the team's puzzle solver, brilliant but quirky - she likes to sit on the floor and spread the puzzle all around her when she's trying to decipher a problem, and then there's Sam Hood, another newish agent, a former Marine. He's quite a guy, and the team leader is…" Jen took a breath, uncertain as to how this part of her revelation was going to go down with Harm. She needn't have worried.

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs," Harm finished for her, a grin on his face. He had recognised Jen's nervousness as soon as she had started rambling, and he had known who her team leader was as soon as she had mentioned DiNozzo's name. "It's alright Jen, it was a long time ago, and okay, so maybe I haven't gotten over it yet, but that shouldn't affect you and your career. But how come you got such a great assignment so quickly?"

Jen blushed faintly, "Well, it seems like they figured that they could use my legal training… Gibbs' team has a rep for taking short-cuts and a time or two it's cost them the case, and come near to doing that a few more times, and then when they found out my degree was in psychology… well… my name's gone forward for the next FBI profiling course at Quantico… So, despite my inexperience they must figure I'm an asset."

"And you are Jen, and you will be to any team lucky enough to have you on board, and as you were at JAG!"

They both fell silent as a tap on the door announced the arrival of Harm's Yeoman with the tray of coffee, cookies, and the all the necessary fixings.

Harm took the coffee pot and poised it over one of the cups, "Letterwood makes a decent pot of coffee, and she's gradually coming around to brew it the way I like… so… are you still taking creamer and sugar?"

"Just the creamer, please, I've given up on the sugar. It goes straight to my butt and thighs!"

"You look in pretty good shape to me," Harm demurred, "There are some sweeteners here, if you'd prefer?"

"No thanks, they leave a bitter after taste," Jen shrugged, "So I've learned to like my coffee with just the creamer."

"Now, if you could only learn to like it straight and appreciate the natural taste, but not just of coffee but…" Harm ginned again, deliberately leaving the end of his sentence hanging in mid-air.

"Oh no! I know exactly what you're trying to do!" Jen laughed, "No, I have not gone veggie. I still eat some meat, but I do still eat more veggie dishes than I used to before I met you and you corrupted me! My hat's off to Mattie for being strong enough to stand up against your diktats!"

"Yeah, Mattie…" This time's Harm's grin edged on the rueful, "She's gotta be counted as one of my failures – at least in the healthy eating wars!"

"No such thing!" Jen objected, "You turned a rebellious, mouthy teenager into the perfect appointee to the academy. Look at the facts: she graduated fourth in her class, _magna cum laude_, with a degree in aeronautical engineering, and now she's qualified as a pilot on the F/A-18F assigned to the Cougars and based at North Island, where you know that your Mom, Bud and Harriet are going to keep an eye on her!"

"Yes, I knew that of course, and I am pleased for her. The Cougars are good bunch. They're not the Raptors, of course, but still a good bunch. And don't get me wrong, I am so proud of what she's accomplished, that when I think of her, my heart feels like it's going to burst out of my chest." Harm twisted slightly in his chair and with a nod indicated his desk, "See those two picture frames? They're both shots of Mattie. One is her graduation photo and the other is of her just after her Winging Ceremony."

Jen nodded, she had expected no less, "She was bitterly disappointed when you couldn't get back for her graduation ceremony," she said with a note of sympathy in her voice.

"Not as much as I was," Harm said sorrowfully, "But there was just so much happening in the Middle east at the time, and of course it spilled out into the African Moslem countries so the whole question of taking leave at that time was a complete non-starter."

"Oh, Mattie knows that, but she was still disappointed. I mean I went, of course, as did Bud and Harriet Roberts, so she wasn't entirely unsupported, but it wasn't the same."

"Yes, I knew about that, and no it wouldn't have been the same, and I am grateful to all three of you for going."

"It was the least we could do, Harm. We all owe you so much, and it was such a little thing…"

"Not to Mattie and not to me!" Harm interrupted.

"H'mm, but you couldn't make it back for her winging ceremony either?" Jen said, and for the first time there was just a hint of accusation in her voice.

"No… it was during a particularly busy time again. I did apply for leave but both the JAG and COMNAVFOREUR turned me down, they were sympathetic but they were adamant that leave was out of the question." Harm shrugged, "I was just as disappointed, and pointed out that I had missed her academy graduation too, but there was no shifting them. Part of the price we pay… But you and the Roberts made it down to Pensacola for her, so she wasn't completely abandoned again, was she?"

"Actually there were four of us who went to support Mattie."

"Four?" Harm queried, "But there was yourself, Bud and Harriet. Who else? Don't tell me Mom made that journey!"

"Well, Lieutenant Commander Hawkes was in town, and she got hold of Bud and Harriet to find out where you were, and so when she learned about Mattie graduating flight school and you not being there, she pulled some strings and got a ride in a ferry job down to Pensacola…"

"Good for you, Skates!" Harm enthused, a smile of pleasure lighting up his face. He had always counted his former RIO as a friend and to hear that she had in some small way tried to stand in for him at his adopted daughter's winging ceremony gave him a very good feeling. "I'm going to have to check her assignment and write her a thank you, even if it is a bit late!"

"Oh, no need for that, Harm," Jen assured him, "Commander Hawkes is now the senior Navigator and XO of the Cougars at North Island."

"And you know this, how exactly?" Harm frowned.

Jen just chuckled, "I'm NCIS now, remember? And I still have one or two active duty contacts in the Navy. A Lieutenant Jason Tiner for example, who works out of JSLO San Diego, and whom I believe is keeping an eye on Mattie. So with your Mom and Step Dad at La Jolla, Bud and Harriet and Jason and his wife and Commander Hawkes, Mattie is being well, if quietly, looked after."

"Jason Tiner's married?" Harm queried.

"Yes, he married another JAG Lieutenant, apparently he went through Georgetown Law with her, and they were dating all the time they were in DC."

"Ah, that explains why you and he…"

"What? Me and Jason? Would never have happened. He was a good friend that's all. We went out a couple of times and we enjoyed each other's company, but there was never any spark between us…"

"And what about you, Jen? Isn't there someone waiting for you back home?"

Jen grinned and shook her head, "No, there's no-one at the moment. I never did find but the one guy, and he just didn't seem to see me. But there's a ray of hope peeping out through the clouds now, so maybe, just maybe."

"Well, don't do what Mac and I did, Jen," Harm answered with a hint of bitterness. "We danced around each other for so long that not only did we get sick of the dance, but we got sick of each other too."

It was on the tip of Jen's tongue to ask what precisely had gone wrong between Harm and Mac, but she resisted the temptation. They had seemed well on their way to finding happiness with each other, and then General Cresswell had dropped the bombshell of their postings on them, they were to be six thousand miles apart. Jen recalled how she had commented that they had found it difficult to talk with each other when their offices were only twenty feet apart. With six thousand miles between them, she had said, they had no chance. And so it apparently had proved.

Harm kept an eye on her usually expressive face but it seemed that the intervening years had given Jen some measure of control over allowing her thoughts and feelings to be obvious, and at last he prompted her, "Jen?"

"Oh… I was just thinking back to the day when the General gave you your PCS orders…" Jen tailed off in slight confusion.

Harm nodded, "Yeah, he certainly dropped those on us, right out of the blue." He too fell silent for a few long moments while Jen sat patiently waiting. She figured that Harm was working through some personal issues and past experience had taught her that when he did, he chose his words very carefully before speaking.

At last Harm gave a sigh, "I don't suppose your active duty contacts gave you any hint of what happened to Mac?"

Jen felt her heart sink, Harm had only been back in the country five minutes and already he was asking about Mac. But, "Yeah, she finished her twenty, and then butted up against the 'up or out regs' so when she finished her time in zone with no promotion and no recommendation, she retired. The last I heard she passed the California State Bar, and got a job as ADA. A pretty zealous one too. Now I hear she's running for the DA's post."

Harm heard the note of condemnation in Jen's voice as she mentioned Mac's approach to her work. He wasn't surprised at the characterisation, he had always had a feeling that Mac could be, and in fact had been at times, vindictive in her prosecutions. Still, "She never married?"

Jen's heart sunk even further. "No, she told Harriet that as she couldn't have kids, there was no point. She seems to have sunk all her energy into her new career."

"Poor Mac," Harm shook his head in sorrow for his former friend and partner, "Well, I wish her luck, and I wish that she could find some happiness. I did think for a time that we might… but maybe it was just as well."

"You never married either, did you, Harm?" Jen asked gently, her spirits recovering slightly at Harm's answer, but knowing full well, thanks to her unauthorised checking of his SRB that he hadn't.

Harm shook his head ruefully, "No, it seems that I have impossibly high standards and although there were a couple of women who would have married me, I just wasn't capable of loving them that way. And the one other woman I sort of proposed to took off like a scalded cat, said I was too damaged and too big a risk for her to take on!"

"Who was that? Just who was that dumb?"

"Oh she wasn't dumb, Jen, not by a long shot. No, Catherine Gale was one of the smartest women I ever met. Her turning me down is just further proof of that! At the time I'd just been canned from the CIA, and hadn't yet started working for Mattie. I was at a pretty low point and was just clutching at straws and Catherine was smart enough to recognise that!"

"Oh, yes, I remember her. She was blonde, the CIA attorney who faced off with you on that case about the missing submarine…"

"Yeah, blondes… I didn't have much luck with blondes… Meg, Jordan, Renée, Catherine… Mind you," he added with a grin, "I never had much luck with brunettes either!"

"You never know, your luck might just change, you're still quite a catch, you know. Now you're a dignified Captain instead of a harum scarum investigative attorney, as soon as word gets out, I reckon you'll have all the match-making Moms in DC besieging you for their overweight spotty daughters!" Jen laughed.

Harm shuddered theatrically, "In which case, I'll call on you to protect me!" he laughed.

"Just call and I'll come a-running!" Jen agreed laughingly but then sobered up quickly as she looked at her watch, "And talking of running, I'd best get going. I've kept you from your work long enough, and now I think I'm going to have to find a reasonable sounding lie for Gibbs to explain why I've been gone so long!"

Harm stood as Jen too got to her feet, "It was great to see you again, Jen, even if it was a bit of a surprise. I'm going to have to have a talk with Mattie about not keeping me in the loop!

"No, don't do that!" Jen chuckled, "It was all my doing, I swore her to secrecy, and threatened her with the sisterhood's vengeance if she told you what I was doing!"

"Okay, then, she's off the hook. But you aren't! You still owe me a lot of explaining!"

"I do!" Jen's hand dived into the inside pocket of her jacket, "Here's my card with all my contact details. Call me if you want to."

"Oh, I want to!" Harm assured her.

Jen's deep brown eyes searched his face, and then without warning she rose on her toes and captured his face with both hands, planting her lips firmly on his. Harm gasped in shock and Jen took advantage of that to slip her tongue along his lips.

Galvanised into action at last, Harm broke free and stared at his visitor, "Jen…"

"Hush," she replied softly. "You've got my card, and if you still want to call me after that, then you know where to find me. You know that guy I mentioned that never seemed to see me, well, that was you. And I've wanted to do that for years, and the only thing that stopped me was the knowledge that the Navy would have thrown me in the brig, and more importantly it would have ruined your career. That doesn't apply now, and I warn you, that if I get a chance, I'll do it again. You think that over Harmon Rabb, and if, when you have thought it over, and you still want to, then you call me and we'll arrange a date. Until then…" she reached up again and kissed him again, lightly this time. Then with a smile she left the shocked Navy captain standing in the middle of his office and slipped through the door.

She smiled at the Yeoman seated at her desk. "I've left the Captain to think over something, so you might want to give him ten minutes before you clear the coffee tray?" she suggested.

"Yes, ma'am!" Diane Letterwood replied.

Inside the office a still stunned Harmon Rabb gently touched his lips, where he could still feel the pressure of Jen's kiss and the feeling of her tongue lightly probing.

"Jen?" he said wonderingly, "Jen?" he repeated and for a third time, but now with a dawning smile on his face, "Jen?"

**xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

Jen's eruption into Harm's life had a delaying effect on some of his plans. He immediately shelved his apartment hunting and stayed put at the Senior Officers' VOQ at Andrews Joint Base. It wasn't as comfortable as his own apartment would have been, but it was certainly a giant step up from the VOQs he had experienced as a junior officer. His decision to delay taking any steps at all was occasioned by the need to think through the extraordinary, to him, events that had taken place in his office. He had always know that Jennifer Coates was an attractive woman – no, make that a beautiful woman – and the way she had turned her life around after he had first met her and the time she had spent sharing the apartment with Mattie had brought her other qualities to his notice. It wasn't just a question of her physical beauty, she had brains – her degree was proof of that – she had guts, determination and integrity, she was loyalty personified, and had a terrific sense of humour, – he had personal experience of that – she was caring and nurturing – the way she had stepped up to the plate with Mattie and had done so much more than he'd ever asked her was proof of that. She was trustworthy, hard-working and she wasn't averse to taking a risk – her actions in his office had proved that!

All this was well and good, and Harm was honest enough with himself to admit that he had in some measure always been attracted to her. But as Jen had pointed out, the fraternisation regulations strictly forbade any sort of romantic liaison – amongst others – between commissioned and enlisted naval personnel, so he had kept those thoughts and feelings securely locked away deep in his innermost being. But now, and again as Jen had said, there were no regulations in their way. But Harm still had to analyse his feelings, and do it ruthlessly. He had to decide if his feelings for Jen were enough that they might, if he allowed them to, deepen into something profound.

At the end of ten days he still wasn't sure, but apart from wanting to see Jen again, it was unkind not to call her. And he definitely did not want to be unkind. That evening, he sat in the single armchair in his room, fished her card out from the depths of his wallet and picked up his cell-phone. He did not want Jen's cell phone number being recorded by the base automatic exchange. He listened for the ring tone, but even now half-hoping that she wouldn't answer, but on the fourth ring she picked up.

"_Coates_," was all she said.

"Jen, it's Capt… uh… Harm…"

Jen's "_Oh… Thank God_!" was almost a sob.

"Jen?" Harm asked worriedly.

"_It's… It's okay, Harm, I was just getting a bit worried that you were never going to talk to me again_!" Jen said by now half-laughing with relief.

"Jen even if that were the case, and it's not, not by a long shot, I wouldn't just cut you out of my life without a word. I'm not that much of an asshole."

"_No, of course you're not_," Jen agreed, "_I guess I was just getting a little paranoid_."

"And whoever said that a little paranoia wasn't a good thing?" Harm asked and Jen could hear the grin in his voice.

"_Um… John Stuart Mill_?" Jen suggested lightly, her normal cheerfulness reasserting itself...

"Nope, not that I've ever heard of!" Harm replied, and then his voice took on a low, serious tone, "Jen, I have been thinking about what you said in my office all those days ago, and what you did. I was surprised, I never thought you felt like that about me, and so I've had to do some serious thinking, which is why it's taken me so long to get back to you. But before we go any further along any path, we need to have a serious discussion, face to face. Can we arrange to meet somewhere, where it's quiet enough to talk and be private?"

Jen's heart gave a little lurch as her perhaps over-optimistic ears detected a hint that Harm felt the same way about her as she did about him. "_Okay, that sounds like a plan. Our team isn't on call, or on stand-by this weekend, so why don't you just come to my place tomorrow evening, and I'll cook you dinner. I think I can remember how to make meatless meatloaf_," Jen chuckled, "_Or perhaps chicken Alfredo_?"

Harm indulged himself in another grin, "Your version of my meatless meatloaf? I think I'd rather go with the chicken Alfredo. But Jen, are you sure this is a good idea… I mean the location… wouldn't it be better if we met somewhere a little more… well… public?"

"_Harm_!" Jen's voice was tinged with impatience. "_Have you ever tried to have a personal conversation in a restaurant? Every time you pluck up the nerve to say something important the server appears, as if summoned by magic! If it's not to clear away the plates from your last course, it's to ask whether everything is alright, or did you want to order anything from the cellar, and you never get around to saying half of what you want! No, if we want to talk, then privacy is best, and as I can't see the Navy getting with the idea of you having an unchaperoned female in your quarters, then the simplest, most logical alternative is for you to come to my place_!"

"Um… yeah… But tell me something, Jennifer Coates, were you always so pushy and determined when you were in the Navy?"

"_Damn straight I was_!" Jen laughed, "_But I had to play it cool because of the UCMJ_!"

Harm was forced to join in Jen's laughter and it felt good. It gave him a warm, comforting feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Okay, you win, I'll come to your place, where and when?"

"_If you can make it for nineteen thirty hours, that'll be fine, and the address… well, you know the address, it's the loft off Fourth Street NE; actually it's your old apartment…_" Jen waited with bated breath for Harm's reaction. She was not disappointed.

"Jen! What are you thinking! That's no neighbourhood for a single female to be living in!"

"_It's nowhere near as bad as it was when we all lived there_," Jen pointed out in reasonable tones, "_There's been a fair amount of gentrification, there's even a bistro and a respectable bar with tables set out on the sidewalk where the old Chinese take-out and Verdi's pizza parlour used to be… And there's even an Ethiopian vegetarian restaurant and a raw juice bar on H and Fourth_!"

Harm blinked. It certainly did sound as if the old neighbourhood had undergone a large-scale makeover, but he decided he would reserve final judgement until he'd seen for himself.

"Okay, I'll be there, nineteen thirty hours!"

"_Fine, I'll see you then, take care_!" Jen smiled.

"Me take care? You watch out for your own self, Jennifer Coates, I'm the one with a nice, safe, desk job these days!" Harm grinned.

"_Yeah, right_!" Jen scoffed.

**xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

Harm nodded appraisingly as he drove down the nine hundred block of Fourth Street NE. The old neighbourhood certainly had changed. The house fronts were neat and tidy and there was plenty of evidence of much fresh paint. The cars parked on both sides of the road were a giveaway too. The majority of them appeared to be under five years old and in good condition; as far as he could see, all the vehicle tags were in date, a far cry from the days of twelve year rust buckets with expired plates standing outside houses that hadn't seen a lick of paint in over a decade. The story continued in the same theme as he drove into the eight hundred block, the houses neat and graffiti free, the streets looking as if it had been recently swept and the few pedestrians about at this time of the evening all reasonably well dressed, but most marked difference of all was the absence of huddles of youths on the corners, suspiciously eying each car as it drove past.

Even the old, familiar alley, when he turned into it looked as if it had seen the services of a road cleaning crew. The weeds that used to grow along its edges had vanished and yes, the old warehouse looked as if the owner had finally been pressured into doing something about its appearance.

Pulling up to the old warehouse, Harm parked his beloved Corvette alongside a four year old Toyota Camry. Harm couldn't resist a smile, if it was Jen's it was a definite step up from the horrible old Escort she had driven for years. He recalled ruefully the more than one occasion when an infuriated but apologetic Jen had called him in the middle of the night to come and rescue her when the unreliable and ancient Ford had decided that it wasn't going to cooperate in getting her home.

The elevator ride up to the third floor bought back memories too, as it shuddered and groaned its way upwards. The landlord might have given the exterior of the building a face-lift, Harm thought, but evidently the elevator was still on his 'honey do' list – as it had been for as long as Harm could remember.

Unknown to Harm Jen was on tenterhooks, desperately trying to figure out what Harm was going to say, and what she as going to say and do if he told her that he wasn't interested, and that he couldn't see any point in trying to pursue a relationship that wasn't going to go anywhere. For that matter, neither was Jen. She could count on the fingers of one hand just how many dates she had been on since leaving the Navy, and still have enough left over to hold a slice of pizza. Sure, Harm had sounded positive over the phone, but she had spent the last twenty four hours second-guessing herself. Her distraction had been such that even Tony DiNozzo, usually self-centred to the exclusion of all else, had noticed, and had given her a friendly warning to get her head out of the clouds and buckle down before Gibbs noticed she had spent most of the morning wool-gathering.

Jen had flashed him a grateful smile and re-applied herself to her case files with renewed energy and as she packed up at the end of the day, she breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that DiNozzo's advice had come in time to save her six. Or so she had thought until she'd slipped her jacket on and hung her purse over her shoulder as she prepared to leave the office, "Good night, boss!" she had called out cheerfully as she an El Bishop made their way towards the elevator.

"Good night Bishop," Gibbs replied without looking up from his computer screen, "And Coates, this guy you've been mooning about all day had better be worth it!" he added dryly.

Jen shot a look of alarm at Bishop who was doing her best not to burst into laughter, and turned crimson, "He is boss, he is!" she assured.

"Good, so get it out of your system over the weekend, and when you come in on Monday, I expect you to have your head back in the game!"

"Yes, boss!" Jen gasped in a suffocated voice and fled towards the elevator.

Now she debated whether she had time to go for a… but no, she hadn't a sharp double rap on the door brought her, gulping to a halt. Smoothing her hands down the legs of her sacks, she walked toward the door and opened,

"Hello, Harm," she said, smiling shyly and then standing on tip toe kissed him softly on the cheek. "Come on in," she invited him, standing to one side so he could get through the door.

"Hello, Jen," Harm answered a happy smile on his face as he proffered the bottle of Italian Pinot Grigio white wine he had brought, "This should go down well with the chicken. It could do with a quick refresh in the fridge though, until you're ready to pour."

"Thank you," Jen smiled as she took the bottle, "It's the same type as I've already got chilling, so our palates won't be in for too much of a culture shock mid-evening! Now go on through, I don't think you'll find the old place too different."

Harm turned towards the lounge area and his grin broadened. Jen had her own furniture of course, and the more modern couch behind the coffee table looked a damned sight more comfortable that the battered old leather couch that he had consigned to a local welfare store before he left for Europe. Yep, he had consigned it without even the slightest hesitation or feeling of remorse, and in retrospect he couldn't fathom out why he hadn't gotten rid of the damned thing years before. Other than the couch and the matching pair of armchairs. A desk and a swivel chair stood where his desk and chair had stood in the far corner of the room and up against the glass brick wall that divided the shower room from the living room and Harm suddenly felt his throat become dry at the thought of Jen showering, the admittedly blurred outline of her body visible to hi… to anyone in the lounge..

He was more than slightly relieved when Jen called out from behind, "Don't be shy! Sit down, before you make the place look untidy!"

"Oh, not being shy," Harm defended himself as he sank gratefully into one of the armchairs, "just checking out what you've done with the old place!"

"Not much, really," Jen confessed as she carried a tray with two glasses of wine on it into the lounge area. "I just bought the minimum furniture I needed, and slapped a fresh coat of paint on the walls. It does me for what I need. I'm only here in the evenings – well some of them when we're not out at all hours on a case – and at weekends, so I don't need much."

"Just a TV, huh?" Harm couldn't resist the dig as he nodded at the thirty-six inch flat screen TV mounted on the wall.

"Damn! Busted!" Jen grinned, "But I don't watch TV too much, I don't want my brain cells dying off any quicker than they have to. No, Tony DiNozzo is an annoying jerk at times…"

"Yeah, tell me about it!"! Harm gritted.

"But he is a pretty good judge of movies, so when he critiques a movie, I listen. And if the genre is one which I'll watch and his recommendation is good, then I rent it."

Harm pursed his lips judiciously while he considered Jen's words and then nodded in acknowledgement. DiNozzo was, in his opinion, a swollen headed asshole who considered himself to be entitled, and one whose non-stop stream of movie references Harm found intensely annoying. However, it was DiNozzo and the NCIS Goth technician that had come up with the evidence that proved he hadn't been Loren Singer's killer, so he was prepared to be a little more tolerant than would normally have been the case.

He took a sip of his wine sending a subtle signal that the previous conversation was over and turned to Jen, "So… apart from looking for something more interesting than working as the Admiral's para-legal, what made you pick on NCIS?"

"Well, it's a Federal Agency, so that means the six years I spent in the Navy count towards the agency pension, and then again it has a Navy connection, and I figured that as I was familiar with certain aspects of the Navy and of military law, it might just be a good fit. And it is!" she finished almost defiantly.

"Whoa! Easy tiger!" Harm smiled, "I'm not criticising, just curious."

"No, of course you're not," Jen smiled, "It's just that a few people have insinuated that I've lost my mind in going into law enforcement, and I tend to get a bit defensive."

"Some people?" Harm asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well Harriet Roberts, for one. She keeps going on about the danger and how she doesn't like me carrying a weapon. But as I've told her, after nine eleven we can't be safe anywhere now. But she isn't the only one. A J was very supportive when I told him what I wanted to do, but I could see that he had reservations too."

"Well, to be honest, I have my doubts, but you have made the choice, and you have been through FLETC, so I'm sure you know the risks, so I will support you to the end… that is if you will allow me to."

"Oh, of course I will! I'm glad you told me that you have doubts, because I know they… Oh! That's the timer, telling me it's time to put the pasta to boil!"

Harm looked around, I don't see a table? Are we eating off our knees?"

"With cream cheese sauce on the menu, I don't think so!" Jen laughed. "No, we'll eat at the breakfast bar. It will be like old times!"

"In that case, is there anything I can do?"

"Well, you could come and keep me company… and maybe freshen our glasses?" Jen grinned cheekily.

"On it, ma'am!" Harm replied levering himself to his feet and following Jen back towards the kitchen area.

Harm settled himself onto one of the stools and watched appreciatively as Jen poured a pan fill of water, added salt and olive oil and set it to boil. As she did so it struck Harm that her new – to him – short hairstyle showed the lines of her slender neck to their best advantage but…

"Just one question, Jen. When and why did you have your hair cropped so short?"

"Well, you mentioned FLETC. I still wore it long when I started there, but then on our first unarmed combat class I wore it in a ponytail and the instructor grabbed hold of it, and had me down on the mat with tears in my eyes in under two seconds. I made the decision there and then that I would never again wear it long enough to be grabbed by an enemy."

"Good decision," Harm approved, "And what happened to the instructor?"

"Well once I'd cleared the tears from my eyes, we had another go, and then when he grabbed me, it was his turn to fall down with tears in his eyes."

"Jen, you didn't?" Harm asked incredulously

"Yeah I did. I didn't figure he'd be dumb enough not to wear a protective cup!" Jen giggled.

"Oh, Jen, Jen, Jen…" Harm sighed shaking his head as he tried, not too successfully, to restrain his own laughter.

"Well that's it!" Jen said decisively as she poured the pasta into a colander to drain for a minute or so, while she opened the oven door and pulled out the casserole dish. "Slow cooked chicken Alfredo," she beamed putting the casserole to one side and serving the pasta onto two plates that she had warming to one side of the cooker before she added the chicken and sauce.

Whether it was the company or the food Harm wasn't sure. The slow cooking meant that the chicken had retained its natural moisture and very nearly melted in his mouth, but if the food occupied his mouth, his eyes and ears were kept equally busy as he watched and listened to the beautiful woman sat opposite.

The conversation during the meal – the chicken Alfredo was followed by fresh fruit salad and natural, organic yoghurt – was kept deliberately light in attempt to keep the atmosphere relaxed, but as the meal progressed both Harm and Jen couldn't help but tense up slightly as they both anticipated the conversation that they both knew was coming. So when they adjourned to the lounge, Jen having piled the dirty dishes in the sink for her attention later, and Jen produced a fresh pot of coffee, they both sat silent, each waiting for the other to start speaking.

In the end it was Jen who broke the silence, "Harm, would you please, come and sit on the couch with me? I don't really want to shout across the width of the room," she finished with a try at lightening the atmosphere again.

Harm rose stiffly and crossed the five or six feet that separated armchair from couch and almost gingerly lowered himself into its squabs leaving almost a foot of space between the two of them.

Jen licked her suddenly dry lips, "Harm, I know you came here tonight to say something, so will you please say it?"

Harm nodded and carefully put his coffee mug down on a coaster. "You… uh… kind of took me by surprise last week, in my office…"

"Good!" Jen retorted, "Because that's exactly what I had planned to do!"

"Planned? It wasn't just spontaneous?"

"No, of course not! I had to screw myself up to do it, and I might tell you, Captain Rabb, that it took just about all the courage I had!"

"Courage?" Harm asked in some surprise, "Why, what did you think I would do?"

"Break my heart," Jen answered simply.

"I don't ever want to do that Jen, I… I think far too much of you to ever want to do that."

'And you still can't say it, can you?' Jen said silently to herself, 'Despite all the work that Mattie did on you to get you to open up, you still can't say it, but I think… I hope… I can see it in your eyes. Just what did MacKenzie do or say to you those last few days you spent in DC?'

"Jen?" Harm prompted her, worried by her silence as her eyes searched his face.

Jen gulped, she had to take the plunge, and this was going to have to be talked out, and that was a far scarier prospect than ambushing Harm with a kiss had been. "It's like this, Harm. I know you wouldn't want to hurt me, but the simple fact is that you have so much power to hurt me that it's scary… No! Please don't interrupt, this is difficult enough as it is! You see, way back in oh one, when you defended me, I developed a bit of a crush on you…" Jen paused to clear her throat even as he crimson flooded her cheeks, "But that would have been okay, and I probably would have gotten over it, if it hadn't been for Bud Roberts' injury. But when Colonel MacKenzie stayed aboard the Seahawk until that cruise was over, I worked with her as Legalman, and as you know, it was as a result of that I was posted to JAG HQ. It was a great career move for me, if I had made the Navy a career that is, but it brought me back into contact with you, and after the way you made sure I was okay in the Seahawk, even though you were – I was too – desperately worried about Bud, well it brought the old crush back, in full force. Then working with you day to day in the office I began to see that you weren't a knight in shining armour, but a real live person, with good and bad points, but in your case, it was obvious that your good points heavily outweighed your bad, and I began to fall in love with that person." Jen paused breath before she continued.

"When you took guardianship over Mattie, and she unlocked your heart a little, then I saw how much capacity for love you had… and… I was lost, the way you loved Mattie, the way you showed that love in so many different ways without actually saying… well, that tipped the scales. I fell completely head over heels in love with you. The day you left for that Tribunal with the Admiral, the Colonel and Commander Turner, you said to me that you didn't know what you'd do without me, that day was one of the happiest of my life. Of course, I knew it was hopeless, you were in love, or you thought you were – which amounts to the same thing – with Colonel MacKenzie. And of course you were an officer and I was a sailor. You see, I wouldn't have cared what the Navy did to me if we had crossed the line, but it would have meant the end of your career too, and I couldn't have you sacrificing all that you had earned, at such a cost, not for me. So I stayed quiet, and I never let you know how I felt. But all those months I lived next door with Mattie, well, it was the most at peace I had been since my Mom died.

"I kept in touch with Mattie all the time you and she were in London, and we sent each other regular e-mails, and she kept me up to date with all that you were doing. And then when she came back to go to the academy, we got even closer." Jen gave a self-conscious chuckle, "We really did become like sisters, we had no… well, very few secrets from each other…"

Harm had been listening, his mouth open in surprise and the tips of his ears burning, but Jen's last sentence seemed to snap him out of a stupor, "Does… does Mattie know how you think you feel?" he asked in appalled voice.

Jen shook her head, "Do you mean did I ever tell her? No, never. But I think she might have guessed. She's a bright kid… no make that she's a bright young woman! And as for thinking about the way I feel. Harm, I don't think – I know.

Harm gave himself a mild shake, "Well, you've certainly laid a lot on me, more than you did when you kissed me, and I have got to admit that yes, I have had certain… feelings about you, but you were a sailor, so I stowed them away and I battened down the hatches, and as you say, I thought I was in love with Mac. Well, I am over Mac now, and I am flattered that you… that you… that you hold me in such high regard…" Harm finished lamely.

"Still can't say it, huh, Harm? Well let me make it easy for you. Harmon Rabb I love you, and I am in love with you. This is not some silly teen-age crush. You know how old I am, or you have a pretty good idea. So I do know that my feelings are real. For God's sake Harm, why do you think I have stayed single and unattached all these years? I'm not exactly ugly! I was waiting for you!"

"No, you are not exactly ugly, Jennifer Coates, you are beautiful, probably the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on…" Harm broke off and gave Jen a glare as she burst into a peal of laughter.

"Oh, Harm, you say the most ridiculous, unbelievable things! But, hey I gotta admit, I like them!" Jen chuckled as her laughter died away.

"Very funny!" Harm snorted indignantly. "I'm trying to be serious here, and you poke fun at me!"

"Of course I do, I always have!" Jen confessed, "It's just that most of the time you were too oblivious to notice it!"

Harm shook his head, "Stop trying to throw me off course!" he scolded her mildly, "I am trying to be serious!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" Jen replied her eyes dancing with mischief.

"Stop it!" Harm growled, but his eyes began to twinkle too, and he suddenly realised that all the tension that had been building up between them had dissipated in their – well, Jen's – laughter. "Did you just handle me?" he demanded suspiciously, "to try to get me to relax?"

"Damn straight!" Jen replied, "You were vibrating like a fiddle string when you sat down, and that psychology degree has got to be good for something other than profiling criminals!"

"You are incorrigible!" Harm said resignedly.

"Yeah, and I'm damn good at it too!" Jen said as she pushed herself up off the couch, "No, stay put," she told Harm as he automatically began to rise.

Jen wasn't gone more than a minute, returning to the lounge with a bottle of wine in one hand and two glasses, their stems held between the fingers of her other hand. She sat down, a good deal closer than before, Harm noticed, and poured two measures.

"I don't know about you, but all that talking has made me thirsty!" she said.

"Well, you have been doing a lot of talking," Harm pointed out, "So I guess you're entitled. Now me, I haven't said a lot, mostly because you keep interrupting!"

"I do not!" Jen protested.

"Yes you do. You've just done it again!" Harm replied.

Jen was about to object once again when she caught the gleam in Harm's eye and so instead, she clamped her lips shut and mimed the act of zipping them together.

Harm grinned at her actions and then schooled his face into a more serious expression, "Jen, as I said, I'm flattered, seriously flattered, that you feel that way towards me, and I am… I am… not totally indifferent to you… In fact, if there is any woman in the world with whom I think I could have a serious, long-term relationship then that woman is you." Harm paused to take a sip of his wine.

"And here's the thing Jen, the next relationship I enter into has got to be the real thing, dating, and eventually marriage, the house with the white picket fence – well maybe not the picket fence, two point four kids, a dog that rules us and a cat that rules the dog. The only thing is, even if I was to be presented with a daughter or son today, I would be seventy by the time he or she graduates from college, and I don't think it would be fair of me to ask any woman to take on that burden, especially one as young, beautiful and as vibrant as you!"

Jen looked at him in disbelief, "Bullshit!"

"Pardon me?" Harm asked in surprise.

"Yes, I know you're forty-eight, that's twelve, no thirteen years older than I am, so that, I remind you, makes me thirty-five. That's quite old enough for me to be sure of my feelings so yes, with you, I'm in it for the long haul: 'til death us do part. I really mean that Harm!" Jen said her heart in her eyes as she laid out her stall for Harm to see. "And another thing, yeah, I want a child, or even children. But I want them to be yours. If they can't be yours, then I'll just have to give up on the idea of ever having kids!"

"Jen! That's blackmail!"

"Is it working?" Jen asked with a sly grin.

"I… I don't know… Jen… I…"

"Harm." Jen interrupted him again.

"Jen?"

"Shut up!" she told him and leaning in captured his lips with hers, once more probing his mouth with her tongue. This time he opened to her and returned her kiss. The next ten minutes were silent broken only by intermittent gasps for air until Harm gave out a groan and tore himself free.

"Oh God, Jen, we've got to stop this, right now. If we don't stop now, I don't think I'll be able to!" Harm gasped.

"And who said I wanted you to stop?" Jen demanded, equally as breathless, as she captured his wrist in her hand and brought it up to her breast so that he could feel the hardness of its tip through her bra and shirt.

Jen surged to her feet, still holding Harm's hand in hers, "Come on!" she said impatiently as she tugged him to his feet and backed away towards the bedroom, towing him in her wake.

**xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

"Oh God, Jen, I'm sorry! It's just that it's been so long…"

Jen grinned in the darkness and snuggled her head into the hollow of Harm's shoulder, "Don't worry about it, it will be okay next time."

"There's going to be a next time?" Harm asked. He would have held his breath waiting for Jen's answer, but he didn't need to wait,

"Damn straight, there is! Or did you think I was going to let you off with a one night stand?"

"Um… no… when you put it like that, I guess not…"

"Good!"

"Uh… Jen… are you using contraception? I mean we let ourselves get carried away this time, and we should really take precautions in the future, but…"

"But what if I just got pregnant? Well, wasn't your advancing age one of the reasons you were so hesitant? So, if we want a family, then we'd best get it started before you become too decrepit!" Jen giggled.

Despite himself Harm grinned, thankful that the darkness hid it, "Be serious!" he scolded her, "When I said I wanted a family, I meant it in the most conservative – with a small 'c' – sense. I'd kinda like the wedding to come before the baptism…"

"So?" Jen asked, "Even supposing I did just get pregnant – and there won't be any tears from me if I did – that would still leave us nine months in which to get married, or were you planning on leaving it past that?"

"No! If you're sure you want to marry me, then I'd say let's get down to the court house on Monday and get the licence and get married next weekend, or do you want the big, grand, church affair?"

"No, I don't necessarily want a big, church wedding. I'd be happy with a five minute session in front of a justice of the peace. All I need for a successful wedding is you! But if we eloped, which is more or less what you suggested, your Mom would kill you and Mattie and Harriet would be tossing a coin to see who got first dibs on killing me!"

"M'mm, good point," Harm agreed, "So how long would it take you to put a wedding together?"

"If we did the catering ourselves, and allowing for time to get the invitations out, and the answers back, arranging the flowers… I figure I could get it together in say… six weeks?"

"Okay, so let's see, it's March twenty-fourth, so we'd be looking at mid-May?"

"M'mm…" Jen replied, her hand busy under the covers.

"Jen? Jen, what are you doing? Oh… Uh… it's not going to work, Jen. I'm not twenty any more. Jen?"

Harm was wrong, whatever Jen was doing did work. And Jen was right. It was better the next time.


	2. Chapter 2

**Crossing the Same River**

**Chapter 2**

Jen blinked the sleep from her eyes, suddenly conscious that she was alone in her bed. She had been hoping to wake up in Harm's arms, her head pillowed on his chest or shoulder, and a moment of panic gripped her. She pushed herself up on her elbows, and knuckled the sleep from her eyes.

Harm was sat on her bedroom chair, lacing his shoes, but as Jen moved he looked up and saw that she was awake, and a smile began to spread across his face.

"Good morning," he greeted her.

"'Morning," Jen replied, "You… ah… were going to call me, right?" She tried to keep the tone of her voice humorous, but she was worried she had let the edge of panic show through at the thought of Harm sneaking out of her apartment as if he was ashamed of her, or sorry that he and she had made love.

Harm finished tying his shoes and stood, taking the two strides to reach the bed, where he perched on the side and scooped Jen up into his arms, where he lowered his face to hers and kissed her, long and gently.

"Nope, I wasn't going to call you. I was going to wake you, kiss you good morning, like I just did, and then I was going to tell you that I have one or two errands to run, a shower to take and scramble into some fresh clothes before I came to take you out to lunch, at about… oh… eleven thirty hours."

"Eleven thirty, hey?" Jen smiled, her heart beating so hard she was now afraid it might burst out of her chest. "That's only three hours away, I don't know if I can be ready by them…"

Harm gave her another gentle kiss, on the forehead this time, and grinned, "Nope, not going to work, I happen to know that you are quite capable of showering, dressing, doing your make-up, braiding your hair and being ready for duty within forty minutes of waking up – and that was while you were wearing uniform. I'm pretty sure you could shave ten minutes off that for just jeans and a sweatshirt."

"So… nowhere fancy for lunch?"

"Oh… I thought we could try that new bistro you were talking about, the one where the old Chinese take-out used to be?"

"Oh yes! Good idea, but it does call for something a little dressier that jeans and a t-shirt!"

"I'll leave that decision entirely up to you!" Harm smiled as he stood, "See you at eleven thirty!"

"Aye, aye, sir!" Jen grinned cheekily, and then as Harm gave a despairing shake of his head and made for the bedroom doorway she sat up in bed and hugged herself, a smile of sheer happiness breaking out across her face.

**xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx**

Harm pushed his empty plate away and sat back, his fingers curled loosely around his water glass, as he waited for Jen to finish her meal. He was pleasantly surprised by the meal he had just eaten, not that it had been exotic, just a Waldorf salad, but with a hint of piquancy in the mayonnaise. But it hadn't been just the food. The place was clean and bright with just a suspicion of fresh paint lingering in the air, the waitress had been young and pretty and had cheerfully rattled off the ingredients of each dish that Harm had queried, and had paid just as much attention to Jen as she had to Harm.

Jen finished the last of her mixed smoked fish platter and laying down her knife and fork, she looked across at Harm, "Well? Your verdict is?"

"Nice place," Harm nodded, "good food, what's not to like?"

"And the staff?" Jen asked innocently – too innocently Harm thought.

"Efficient, knowledgeable, polite, friendly; again, what's not to like?" Harm asked just as innocently.

"And pretty?" Jen prompted him, the mischief now plain to see in her eyes.

Harm chuckled and leaned back against his chair's support, "Didn't really notice, as soon as I saw she was blonde… well, you know about my track record with blondes," he drawled.

Then his face lost its smile, but there was an undeniable warmth in his eyes as he leaned forward and stretching a long arm across the table, he covered one of Hen's hands with his own. "Besides, how can I be expected to look at another woman when I'm with my beautiful fiancée? That is of course, unless now that you've had your wicked way with me, you still want to be my fiancée?"

Jen's mischievous sparkle intensified, "No, I don't want to be your fiancée, I want to be your wife!"

"Good, now that's settled…" Harm grasped Jen's hand and turned it palm up, simultaneously using his free hand to take a small blue box from the pocket of his wind breaker and dropping it into Jen's palm, "Perhaps you'd like to see if this fits?"

Jen let go of Harm's hand and opened the box, a gasp of delight escaping her as she looked at the ring nestling in the box's velvet lining. "Oh… Harm…"

"I know I didn't consult with you about this, but I really wanted to surprise you, but if you don't like it…" Harm said nervously, "I knew you didn't wear any really fancy jewellery, so I figured, what with the job you're doing now, that you wouldn't want anything too… too…"

Jen laughed, and looked back down at the simple round cut diamond set on a slim, two-tone band, "Oh, Harm, quit while you're still ahead! Of course I like it, I love it! But… but where… when… how…?"

"Well, that was one of the errands I said I had to run this morning," Harm.

"Okay… so now that you've got the ring, would you like to…?" Jen held out her left hand for Harm to slip the ring onto her finger.

"If it's the wrong size, the sales clerk said to bring it back so it can be altered," Harm said nervously as he held the ring at Jen's fingertip.

"Well, we won't know until you try to put it on my finger, will we?" Jen prompted him.

"I guess not," Harm admitted and slipped the ring onto Jen's finger, holding his breath as it eased past her knuckle joint. "Well?" he asked anxiously.

"I think I must have gone to the ball," Jen exclaimed, her face flushed with pleasure, "It fits!"

Harm's own exclamation of pleasure was drowned out by a burst of applause and a resounding chorus of "Bravo, congratulations," and similar exclamations.

Startled Jen and Harm looked up to see standing at a respectful distance the waitress, a small, thin, wiry older woman and a Latino looking younger man, all of whom wore broad smiles on their faces.

The older woman stepped forward, "Congratulations to you both! You are the first couple to get engaged in our place – well as far as we know – so, Micky, two glasses for the happy couple!"

"Uh… ma'am… that's not necessary…" Harm stuttered even as Jen's blush deepened.

"Of course it is!" The woman disagreed, "My name's Lou, and this is my place, so what I say goes. Besides, we've seen the young lady in here a time or two, and wondered why she was eating alone, and now we know!"

Micky returned to the table with an ice bucket holding a bottle of champagne and a pair of glasses.

"Okay," Jen surrendered to the inevitable, "But only if you and your staff join us!"

Extra glasses were brought and the contents of the bottle shared equally between them, after which Harm and Jen made their farewells and with Lou's cry, "You-all come back real soon!" ringing in their ears, they escaped back out onto the street.

"Well, that was embarrassing!" Harm grinned as he and Jen headed back towards the loft.

"Oh… I don't know, it was kind of sweet," Jen demurred, but then added, "Of course, it was also some pretty shrewd PR and customer relations, too!"

"You think?" Harm asked slightly surprised by Jen's cynicism.

"Of course," Jen confirmed, "We now know the owner, and she has our names, so when we go back there, she'll be there to greet us personally, and that she knows our names will impress other customers with her friendliness and they will be encouraged to go back time and again so they can get the same sort of treatment. It's just plain good business sense."

"Wow! Cynical much!" Harm laughingly exclaimed and then surprised the hell out of Jen by slipping an arm around her waist and in a completely unexpected public display of affection pulling her close in a one-armed hug.

**xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx**

Jen eyed the bulky envelope in Harm's hand with amused suspicion. He had stopped outside the building to retrieve it from the Corvette while Jen unlocked the building's main door. "Okay, what have you got there?" she asked.

Harm hooked his jacket onto one of the pegs on the back of the door and casually tossed the envelope onto the coffee table, "Realtors' listings," he grinned.

"Listings?" Jen asked in surprise.

"Yeah… we can't both live here, it's too small for two adults for anything longer than a week or so and…"

"And just how would you know that?" Jen demanded as she snuggled next to him.

Harm chuckled, "Nothing illegal, immoral or fattening, I promise. It's just that during the ten years I spent living here, I had guests from time to time, and after a couple of days, we just kept tripping over each other… there's nowhere here where you can go for some 'just me' time. And if we're planning on having a family…"

"O…kay…" Jen said slowly, "that sounds reasonable, but… these guests… male or female?"

"Uh… both. Skates and Keeter have both stayed over, so has my Mom when she made the trip without Frank – now that really did cramp my style!"

"Yes, I suppose it would!" a greatly amused Jen nearly choked on her laughter, "Anybody else?"

"Well Maria Elena used to beg the use of my shower and couch for a night or two when she was on layover…"

"And Maria Elena is?"

"Maria Elena Carmelita Moreno Gutierrez was Keeter's girlfriend. They gave me a hand one weekend when I was still fixing the place up, and Maria Elena fell in love with the shower…"

"Yes, I can see how that would happen," Jen agreed. "Anyone else?"

"Some of the guys from the Raptors, and of course Annie Pendry and Josh stayed for a few days when some bad guys were looking for Josh…"

Jen nodded. That was before her time at JAG, but as the Admiral's Yeoman she had access to most case files, and she had read up on all of Harm's old cases. "Okay," she repeated, "You've convinced me, so let's have a look at these listings."

Harm tipped the envelope up and shook its contents onto the coffee table. Jen looked at the sheaf of leaflets and said, "Right, how are we going to do this?"

"We each take half the leaflets, look through them, and discard the obvious non-starters, then when we have whittled the pile down to a few possibles, then we start applying criteria."

"Which are?"

"At least two bedrooms, and two bathrooms – those are non-negotiable. As far as I'm concerned, a porch is pretty desirable, if not essential, and a fenced in back yard, in a quiet neighbourhood – that is also essential, and that means traffic as well as neighbours."

Jen nodded, "That's all pretty straightforward… so let's get started."

Five minutes passed in silence as Harm sorted through his half of the stack, the number of discards growing quickly to one side, but then he became aware that Jen had stopped sorting and was going back through her pile of discards, looking from them to the remainder of the pile still waiting for inspection. She turned a puzzled face towards him, "Harm… these are all for rentals?"

"Yeah, that's right," he agreed.

"But wouldn't we be better off buying?" she queried.

"We would, if I didn't already own a house," Harm agreed, blissfully unaware the bombshell he had just dropped on Jen.

"You what?" she asked in surprise.

"I what? Oh… didn't Mattie ever say? Yeah, I already own a house, but it's in Belleville, PA," Harm said quietly.

"Oh, Harm…" Jen dropped her hand onto one of his, "Your grandmother?"

"Three years ago." Harm confirmed. "Just after Christmas, she went to sleep one night, and just didn't wake up. A neighbour lady found her when she didn't turn up for a quilting meet. Her heart just stopped beating… She was ninety…" he seemed to give himself a shake, "But it's three, three and a half hours out of DC, too far for a daily commute. And I get a pretty generous BAH if I rent, which I wouldn't get if we were buying, so with two incomes – you do intend to keep working, right? – we won't be rich, but we won't be hurting…"

"M'mm… but Falls Church, McLean, Pimmit Hills and Langley? Aren't they all a little too far from the Navy yard for comfort?"

"Maybe," Harm grinned, "but there are advantages to not living above the store. Besides, they are good areas for kids to grow up, with decent schools and a low crime rate."

"Okay… That all makes sense, nearly," Jen grinned.

"M'mm…" Harm grinned and then with a wordless exclamation of impatience, he threw his stack of brochures down onto the table and unhooked his cell phone from his belt.

"What now?" Jen frowned.

"Well, I'm tired of looking at brochures for the moment. With most of our friends on the west coast, I was thinking that it would be more convenient for us to fly out there, rather than have them all come back east. I mean, just look at Bud and Harriet for a start, can you imagine them trying to get their brood back here, just for the weekend? And then there's Mattie. She might get a stand down, but if not then she isn't going to be able to make it. And Mom and Frank are getting a little too old to make the trip these days. So…?"

"So what?" Jen asked although she was getting an inkling of what Harm was driving at.

"So how does the idea of an open air, evening wedding strike you? There's a little headland about five minutes' walk from Mom and Frank's place, and I'm pretty sure they'd be happy to host the wedding breakfast."

"But what about the catering?" Jen asked, "I thought we were going to take care of that!"

"Well, that was a thought, but it would mean even more effort and expense getting everybody back here. Besides Mom has got Maria, her long-time cook cum housekeeper and I'll bet Harriet would be upset if we didn't let her contribute."

Jen nodded thoughtfully, "That's probably true," she conceded.

"But nothing is going to happen on that or any other front, unless we start telling people that we are getting married. And for the sake of domestic peace and harmony, I suggest that we tell Mom and Frank first, then Mattie and then Harriet."

"Anyone else?" Jen asked.

"Skates of course!" Harm added "and anyone you especially want to invite?"

"Jason and his wife, and Lynn Paterson and her husband."

"Lynn Paterson? Oh, yes, Lynn Barker that was," Harm remembered.

"Jack Keeter?" Jen prompted.

"If I can track him down," Harm agreed, "Anyone else?"

"A J," Jen suggested doubtfully, "In fact, unless you are dead set against it, I'd kinda like for him to give me away…"

Harm shrugged, "Sure, of that's what you want. What happened between us was a long time ago, Jen, and I'm over it, more or less. Besides, if it makes you happy, I'll even try to track down Sturgis."

"But you're still not over that?" Jen asked.

Harm shook his head. "No what he did I saw, and still see, as a betrayal. He was ready to see me convicted of negligent homicide and see me lose my career, my civilian prospects and see me spend years behind bars, because he couldn't stand a little disagreement when he was totally out of his depth as JAG pro-tem. And I find that very hard to forgive Jen, especially when he was supposed to have been one of my oldest friends in the Navy."

Both fell silent as they remembered that not so outstanding period in JAG's history. Harm's face became an expressionless mask while Jen smiled briefly. As the JAG's Yeoman she had felt the full force of Sturgis Turner's attempt to prove that he was capable of running the Corps on a temporary basis. Unfortunately his attempt had been marked by an emphasis on what Jen had privately thought of as displacement activity. The then Commander Turner had been incapable of imposing his will on his attorneys and had reverted to demanding more and ever more numerous and complex reports and returns, surrounding himself with rampart of pie charts and statistics and labouring under the delusion that what he was demanding of his staff was of any use, while avoiding to confront the problems his command style was generating. Harm had thought that their friendship was strong enough for him to be able to point out to Turner what he was doing and where Harm thought he was going wrong. He was mistaken, Turner had pulled his temporary rank on him and had obviously allowed his resentment to fester and had seized the opportunity for payback over Harm's downing of a light airplane which was attempting a suicide attack on an oil rig in the Arabian Gulf.

Breaking off her train of thought, she allowed her smile to reappear, "So… are you going to get calling?" she teased Harm.

"Yeah…" he checked his watch, "Mom should be about ready for her mid-morning coffee… that is if Frank has made it back from the golf course yet. So, here goes nothing!"

Harm pressed the top number on his speed-dial list and switching the phone to speaker, he sat and waited while the connection was made and the phone at the other end was answered.

"_Burnett_."

"Hi Mom, it's me, how are you?"

"_Harm, how wonderful! We were talking about you only last night, wondering if now that you were back in the States you'd be able to find time to come visit with us_!"

"Well, that's why I'm calling. Mom, are you sitting down? And is Frank back from the golf course yet?"

"_Yes, and yes. Why_?"

"I'm getting to that. Can you either get Frank to pick up on the extension, or if he's sitting with you, switch on the speaker phone?"

"_Of course, but Harm_…"

"In a moment, Mom. Frank?"

Frank Burnett's disembodied voice came over the airwaves from California, "_Hi, Harm, it's good to hear from you son_."

"It's good to hear your voice too," Harm agreed, "But I'm calling to see of some arrangements I have in mind are okay with you."

"_I know that tone of voice_!" Patricia Burnett, better known as Trish, said accusingly, "_You're up to something_!"

"Umm… yeah… guilty as charged… sort of," Harm chuckled.

"_Alright, spit it out_!" Frank said in a no-nonsense sort of voice.

"Well, I was wondering if it would be okay if I came to visit for a long weekend from May eleventh through May fourteenth."

"_Of course it would, darling_!" Trish cried ecstatically.

"And would it be okay if I brought someone with me?" Harm asked as he dropped a wink to Jen who was biting her knuckles in an attempt to stifle her growing laughter.

"_Of course! You know you can bring any of your friends when you visit_!" Trish protested.

"And would it be okay if we had our wedding breakfast at your place on the Friday evening?" Harm asked innocently.

"_Of course you can…"_ Trish agreed happily, but just then her brain caught up with her ears, "_What… what did… did you just say_?" she asked uncertainly.

"Um… I asked if it would be okay to have our wedding breakfast at your place on Friday evening."

"_Wedding breakfast! What wedding breakfast_?" Trish howled.

"Well, we were kind of figuring on having the ceremony out on Far Point, and then coming home for the reception. It won't be a big party, maybe twenty people tops, and I know you have bigger cocktail parties than that. And Harriet Roberts will be more than happy to help, so it wouldn't mean too much extra work for you or Maria, and I was…"

"_Just hold on right there Mister_!" Trish snapped. "_Let me get this straight. You want to come home for a long weekend to get married_?"

"Um… yeah, that's about right."

"_Harm… this is all very sudden… who is the woman, how long have you known her… and you are a wicked man springing this sort of news on me without warning_!"

"Well, I did ask if you were sitting down, Mom," Harm reminded her. "As for sudden… well… it might seem so, but it's actually the culmination of a very slow maturing romance. As for how long I've known her, well, about eleven years in total…"

"_Harm, is it Mac_?" Trish interrupted.

"No, Mom, it's not Mac. That boat sailed long ago. As for who it is, you know her… well, you've met her a couple of time, and you've spoken to her on the phone more than a few times. Mom, Jennifer Coates has done me the honour of accepting me as her husband. And as we've known each other for so long, we don't want to waste any time…"

"Jennifer Coates?" Trish's voice was suddenly troubled, "Harm, isn't she the girl who shared the apartment with Mattie? And isn't she a Petty Officer, an enlisted sailor and isn't she…?"

"Mom, Mom, before you say anything you wouldn't want her to hear, she's sat right next to me and you're on speaker phone. Yes, she's twelve years younger than I, and no she's not a Petty officer, she's now a civilian, so having recognised that we love each other, we can't see anything else getting between us. Mom, I let what other people might think, and playing it safe with the regulations bind my tongues for year, but not now. I love Jen, and she loves me, so we're getting married. I thought you might like it if we came out to the west coast so you could be there for the wedding and I got to admit that I thought you might be happy for me…" he finished almost accusingly.

"_Oh darling, if you're happy then I am happy for you too… It's just that this has come like a bolt out of the blue… So… so unexpected! What happened to my cautious, dip the toe in the water, nor to mention indecisive son of mine_?"

"Oh… I'm still here, Mom, but just for once I allowed myself to be swept off my feet… and it's all thanks to Jennifer," Harm ended with what he hoped was a subtle hint, but Jen's quirked eyebrow left him in no doubt that she didn't share his opinion.

"_H'mm… you did, did you? Well, If Jennifer's sitting next you, let her speak, I need to make sure the poor girl is in her right mind! Jennifer_?"

"I'm here, Mrs Burnett," Jen confirmed.

"_Oh, no… that will never do! If you are really intent on marrying Harm – and I'm sure you could do much better – then you had better get used to calling me 'Mom_'!"

"Oh, I fully intend to marry him… Mom… I have no intention of letting him get away! And I am perfectly sane – I've just had a psych eval, and passed with flying colours!"

Trish Burnett who had been the wife and the mother of a sailor for nearly half a century was no stranger to military-speak and intuitively divined Jen's meaning and a gurgle of surprised laughter erupted from her, "_Oh, I' m sure you ticked all the rights boxes and saw all the right shapes, but are you sure, dear, that you really want to marry that reprobate son of mine_?"

"I'm sure, really sure." Jen confirmed with a grin. She had been alarmed at what had seemed to be Trish's hostile initial reaction to the news but quickly realised to her relief that it was the surprising nature of the news that had been so abruptly broken to her that had jolted her out of her usual good humour.

"_Well! In that case I'm certainly not to try to dissuade you! Even if only out of relief that he's finally settling down… oh… and of course, welcome to the family dear! Oh… I'm going to yield to Frank now, I was beginning to think that the cat had got his tongue, but it looks like he finally wants to say something_."

"_Finally_?" Frank's amused and exasperated voice came out of the speaker, "_I've been trying to get a word in edgeways for the last five minutes, at least! So… congratulations to you two, apart from your Mom's panic attack a few minutes ago, how are the rest of your friends taking it_?"

"Oh, Frank, do you really think that I would dare tell anyone else before Mom and you?"

"_Well, there's Mattie_…"

"She's next on the list, but you and Mom first! Then Mattie, and then everyone else who we want to know."

"_Mac_?" Frank asked quietly.

Unseen by Frank, Harm shook his head. "No… Mac belongs in the past. We haven't spoken to or wrote each other for years, let the past bury the past, Frank."

"Yeah, it's probably for the best. Well, my congratulations to you Harm, and Jennifer?"

"Sir?"

"_My respects to you. It won't be easy housebreaking a crusty old bachelor_."

"I'm sure he'll find it just as difficult handling a shrewish old maid!" Jen laughed.

"_H'mm…"_ Even that syllable was replete with amusement. "_Well, we'll see you all on May eleventh, in the meantime Harm, if you need any help with anything, call me!_

"We will! 'Bye Mom, 'bye Frank, love you both!"

"_Goodbye, son, goodbye Jennifer_!"

"_Goodbye, darlings_!" Trish chimed in and a second later the line went dead.

"That went well," Harm deadpanned.

"Yuh think?" Jen mimicked Gibbs' delivery of one of his stock phrases and by the quizzical look on Harm's face she succeeded, but she wasn't yet prepared to share that joke with him.

"Yep, and now comes the difficult call…"

"Mattie? She'll be delighted… I think…" Jen finished.

"Well… there's only one way to find out!" Harm grinned, picked up Jen's hand from where it lay in her lap and gently kissed her knuckles, before he put it gently back and hit the speed dial menu again.

"_Hey Harm_!"

"Huh? How did you know it was me?"

"_Caller_ _ID_? _Remembe_r?" Mattie chuckled and Harm swore he could hear a silent "Duh!" at the end of her comment.

"Yeah… right…" Harm answered sheepishly, his ears glowing pink as Jen tried again to stifle a giggle.

"_Harm… Have… uh… have you got somewhere there with you_?" Mattie demanded.

"Well, yeah, nothing wrong with your hearing… and you're on speaker phone, so try to keep the abuse to a minimum, hey, Squirt?"

"_Okay… but if you want me to keep the abuse level down to something manageable, then you gotta come clean. Who's there?_"

Harm dropped Jen another broad wink, "Oh, well… It's not classified, and I suppose you could argue that you have a need to know, so… I'm here with my fiancée."

"_Your fiancée_?" Mattie's tone was openly incredulous, "_Oh come on, Harm, be serious! Who's there with you_?"

"I am being serious, Mattie, and the reason…"

"_You're getting married? Seriously? Oh. My. God."_

"Hey, it's not that strange, a lot of women think I'm still a pretty good catch."

"_Yeah, I know! But Mister Harmon Impregnable Rabb finally runs up the white flag? Wow! That's a whole new ballgame. She must be one special woman_!"

"Okay, let's get a couple of things straight around here. I am the father figure. You are the daughter figure," Harm grinned across at Jen, "It's supposed to be me giving you a hard time about dating, not vice versa! Secondly, that's_ Captain_ Harmon Impregnable Rabb to you, Lieutenant Grace, and don't you forget it!"

"_Yessir! No sir! Three bags full, sir_!" Mattie rapped out in her best Plebe-voice and then the amusement gone from her voice she added warmly, "_If you really are getting married Harm. Then I repeat, she must be one very special woman. When do I get to meet her_?"

"Um…" Harm could barely keep the laughter that was dancing in his eyes out of his voice, "Um… here's the thing, Mattie, you've already met her."

For a long moment there was silence on the other end of the line as Mattie's heart sank and then with a vague feeling of dread and rather tentatively Mattie asked, "_Harm… it's… is it Mac_?"

"No, Squirt, it's not Mac," Harm answered and looked back across at Jen who by now was biting one of the throw pillows so that she wouldn't break into open laughter, and at last Harm could feel his own control slipping and gave up the game, "It's… Jen," he finally admitted.

"_Jen? Jen who…?"_ Mattie asked bemusedly then as the penny dropped she squealed, "_Jen? As in Jen Coates?"_

"Hey, I said you'd met her, do both of us know any other Jen?"

"_You are really getting married to Jen_?_ Yesss! Result_!"

"I take it the idea meets with your approval?"

"_Of course it does! Oh, man, I got so many questions! Harm I'm going to have to call you back, I gotta call Jen and get the low-down_!"

"No need to do that, Squirt. Like I said, she's right here with me, and since you're on speaker phone, she's heard every word we've both said, and at the moment she's desperately trying not to laugh!"

"_She's there? Great! Hey Jen, now that you're marrying Harm, does that mean I get to call you 'Mom' at last_?"

"No way!" Jen giggled, "I'm far too young to have a twenty something daughter! You just carry right on calling me by name!"

"_Yes, Mom_!" Mattie giggled.

"Mattie!" Jen allowed a note of warning to sound in her voice, "That could get pretty old, pretty quick!"

"_Okay, I'll be good_. " Mattie took a gulp of air in an effort to calm her breathing, "_When did all this happen_?" she asked curiously.

"Well…" it was Jen's turn to shoot a laughter filled glance at Harm, "When Harm got back from England a couple of weeks ago, I gave him a day or three to settle into his office then paid him a surprise visit. And when I left, I ambushed him with a kiss and really laid it on him and told him to think things through. He finally got back to me last night, and we had a bit of a talk and decided that we should get married."

"_Hah! I always said you had a crush on him, even back in the day when we shared the apartment_!"

"Yeah… you did…"

"_And you always denied it when I asked you_!"

"Oh, Mattie, I had to. Harm was an officer and…"

"_And you were enlisted, yeah I know… but you've been carrying a torch for him all this time? Woe! That really is love_!"

"Yep, that's what I figured, too," Harm interrupted, sliding an arm around Jen's waist.

"_But what about you Harm? You never gave off any vibes about Jen. You always treated her like a younger sister_!"

"Yeah… But like Jen said I was an officer, so any feelings I might have had had to be stuffed into a box and the lid screwed down tight, but Jen made me took a good hard look at myself when she ambushed me, and after thinking things through, I decided that she was right after all,"

"I generally am," Jen murmured into his ear, causing Harm to choke on a laugh.

"_Just what are you two up to_?" Mattie asked suspiciously, "Not inappropriate behaviour?"

"Perfectly appropriate," Jen chuckled, "We're sitting all snuggled up on the couch and Harm has got his arm around my waist!"

"_H'mm…"_ Mattie still sounded as if she had her doubts bit relented, "_Okay, I'll let you slide – this time. So…_" another deep breath followed, "_When are you planning on doing the deed, or haven't you made up your minds yet_?"

"Oh, we've made up our minds. I wanted to have a quiet ceremony this coming weekend…" Harm started.

"_What? No! You can't do that! I won't be able to get leave at such short notice! It's not fair_!" Mattie exclaimed.

"Relax, Squirt," Harm laughed, "Jen nixed that. She pointed out that my Mom would kill me if we eloped like that!"

"_Well, she got that right_!" Mattie grumped, "_So… when_?"

"Would you believe May twelfth?"

"_Wow! That's next month! I might be able to get leave..."_

"Power down, Mats, Jen and I are flying out to San Diego on the eleventh and we will be staying at Mom and Frank's place. The wedding is on the twelfth, an open air ceremony at Far Point, you know that little headland about five minutes from the house?" The one overlooking the beach?"

"_Oh, yeah, I know it_!"

"So all you need to do is to make sure that you're not flying or on standby that evening, and if that's all you can manage it will be okay with Jen and me, and we'll get together on the Sunday or Monday."

"_Okay… I might be able to swing that…"_

"Good, a formal invitation will be in the post… Oh… and it will not be a naval wedding." Harm cocked an inquiring eyebrow at Jen for confirmation and to his relief saw her nod in confirmation, despite the slightly surprised expression on her face.

"_No dress whites and gold wings_?" Mattie asked and Harm thought he could hear disappointment in her voice.

"Not this time around, Squirt. But believe me, you'll be glad not to wear them that evening. The wedding breakfast will be at Mom's and if I'm any judge, it will be party on till cock-crow, and under those conditions dress whites get pretty uncomfortable, and opening the collar and unbuttoning the jacket looks… well… un-military, plus there will be senior officers there and it will be much easier, less formal all round if everyone's wearing civvies."

"_H'mm… that makes sense in a weird kinda way… Um… have you told Harriet and Bud yet_?"

"No, not yet. They're next on the to-do list!" Harm laughed.

"_Okay, I'll let you go now so you can call them. And Harm, congratulations and my love to you and to Jen_!"

"Okay, Squirt. Our love to you too!"

"Yeah, love you, Mattie," Jen chimed in, "'Bye!"

"'_Bye… Mom_!" Mattie laughed and then broke the connection before Jen could object.

Harm chuckled at Jen's expression which showed a mixture of annoyance, amusement and resignation.

"Cheer up," he recommended, "It's a nine minute wonder, and if you don't react, she'll stop it soon enough."

"She'd better!" Jen muttered.

"What are you going to do if she doesn't?" Harm teased. "Ground her? Withdraw internet privileges? Take her cell phone away? Send her to the naughty step… Mom?"

The ridiculous nature of Harm's suggestions had Jen in laughter before he had finished speaking and when she recovered her breath she shook her head helplessly, "Oh… I think I'm going to like being married to you!"

A startled Harm drew back and looked askance at her, "I certainly hope so! But not as much, I think, as I'm going to like being married to you!"

Jen laid her head on his shoulder, "Are you going to call Harriet and Bud this afternoon?"

Harm shook his head. "Nope, if what we've just been through with Mom and Mattie is any indication then it will only be a repeat performance from Harriet, so no, I'll leave it until Monday and call Bud from the office."

Jen snuggled even closer and slid her hand up to the back of Harm's neck, "I knew there was something I liked about you!" she smiled as she tugged his head down to her level.

"Only something?" Harm murmured against her lips which parted under his.

"M'mm…" Jen replied.

xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

On Sunday morning it was Harm's turn to lie in bed and appreciatively watch as Jen sat at her vanity table, plying her hair brush and dryer as she strove to achieve the perfect pixie look in her freshly washed hair.

Some things might have changed, Harm mused, but he was certain he remembered the faded blue terry-cloth bath robe she wore but before he could comment Jen gave a nod of satisfaction, turned off her hair dryer and laid down her brush. She turned towards Harm and with a humorously quizzical grin asked, "If I was to head straight for the kitchen, put some coffee on and prepped some pancakes and eggs, do you think that might be enough incentive to get your butt out of bed, into the shower and then into some clothes?"

"It might," Harm agreed affably, "On the other hand, you didn't give me much rest last night did you?" he finished with a sly grin.

If Harm had expected to see Jen blush he was disappointed, her face never changed colour and her return grin was just as broad as his, "Didn't hear you complain too much," she pointed out, "and I was just as energetic as you. So if I can get vertical this morning, there's no excuse for you lazing in bed all morning!"

"Ouch!" Harm grimaced and leaning to one side felt the floor alongside the bed in search of his boxer shorts, his actions bringing a peal of laughter from Jen, "Oh… that is priceless! After the last two nights, you're still shy? Unbelievable!" And with a shake of her head she undid the tie of her bath robe and shrugged it off of her shoulders as then, completely unconcerned by her nudity she took the three steps towards the closet where she stood for a few minutes selecting her outfit for the day.

Harm, with a shamefaced grin nevertheless manoeuvred under the covers until his boxers were securely in place before he slid out of bed and as casually as he could, strolled towards the shower room, hearing Jen's smothered laughter as he turned the shower on.

xxxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

After a leisurely breakfast Harm and Jen poured themselves a fresh cup of coffee and returned to the stack of realtors' listings they had so unceremoniously abandoned yesterday' A half an hour's study had reduced each stack to less than a dozen 'possibles' and Jen looked at Harm, "Well?"

"We exchange stacks, and discard any with which we violently disagree, then we put on our jackets and take a drive out and take a look-see?" Harm suggested.

"Fine by me, so hand 'em over," Jen replied.

A further twenty minutes study revealed that with the exception of one discard Harm and Jen's ideas ran on parallel tracks and as a result there were still far too many possible places to view for one day.

"What now?" Jen sighed as she gloomily contemplated the consolidated list.

"Shuffle through them, and sort them by location, and see what that leaves us?" Harm suggested.

Another fifteen minutes later and four smaller stacks stared back at them from the surface of the coffee table. Harm grinned at Jen who grumbled, "We haven't seen a single property yet and already I hate house-hunting!"

"Not the most enjoyable of past times, I grant you," Harm answered and then leaned in and captured her lips in a gentle kiss, "So… where do we start?" he asked, indicating the four stacks.

"Oh… the hell with it!" Jen snarled and grabbed the stack nearest to her. "McLean!" she announced as she looked at the top sheet.

"McLean it is, then," Harm agreed, and standing, he held out a hand to help Jen to her feet.

The drive out to McLean in the Corvette, its windows wound down to allow the warm late spring air into the car did much to restore Jen's spirits, but of the first three houses they looked at none lived up to the expectations raise by the realtors' brochures. Consequently Jen's spirits plunged again and Harm also showed signs of impatience.

Even their midday break at the food court at Tyson's Corner Mall did little to lighten their mood, and Harm nearly suggested they call it a day and return to the loft apartment, but one look at the mulish set of Jen's face as she buckled herself into her seat belt convinced him to carry on with what he was beginning to feel was a wasted day's endeavour.

The last two places on their list were better, so much so that the first one of the pair was marked on the list as warranting a second visit during the week as soon as it could be arranged. So with her spirits somewhat restored Jen turned to Harm and asked shyly,

"Um… while we're here, Harm, do you mind if we make a call?"

"Where do you have in…Oh… The admiral?"

"Yeah, if you don't mind?"

"No… If you want him at the wedding, then I'm going to have to face him sooner or later, so we might as well get it over with."

"You're not still mad at him are you?"

"Mad? No, not mad, just not particularly keen on renewing the acquaintanceship."

"Not friendship?" Jen asked worriedly.

Harm considered for a few moments and then deliberately indicated left before he turned towards where A J Chegwidden lived before he spoke, "No… I don't think we were ever friends, Jen, the gap in age, rank, experience and outlook was just too different, and then after Paraguay we lost the mutual respect we held each other in, and then it felt like he was selling us all down the river when he suddenly retired, so it was a triple betrayal. He betrayed Mac, he betrayed me and then at the end he betrayed us all by quitting."

"That's all true," Jen admitted as she bit her bottom lip, "But he did admit, to me at least, that he had made some huge mistakes. And… and… and I managed to make my peace with him, and he got rid of a lot of his grouchiness when he took off the uniform. So, can you please make an effort?"

Harm forced a smile, "If it's to please you, okay, then I'll make an effort. I can't promise it will be all sweetness and light between me and the admiral, but I'll give it a try."

"That's good enough for me!" Jen exclaimed a blush of pleasure appearing on her cheeks and then she leaned forward slightly, "This is it! The next house on the right!"

"Yeah, I remember," Harm grinned as he slowed in preparation for the turn into the driveway.

The gravel of the driveway crunched under their feet as they crossed the three or four yards between them and the steps to the admiral's porch. Harm grimaced mentally as he stepped up on the wooden decking, remembering the bitter taste of the night he had almost betrayed his honour in this very spot. He had never allowed himself to return here since that night.

Jen shot a quick, anxious look at him and Harm again forced a smile, as he raised a fist to knock on the door frame.

The knock was answered in less than a minute, A J Chegwidden hadn't changed that much in the intervening years. True, he now cultivated a neatly trimmed grey goatee and moustache which contrasted, somewhat ludicrously Harm thought, with his almost totally hairless scalp. However, there was no hint of friendliness in his dark eyes as they flitted over Harm.

"Mister Rabb, good afternoon. I'd heard you were back in DC."

Harm nodded an acknowledgement of the greeting, but contented himself with a laconic "A J," in return.

Chegwidden allowed himself a slight smile and then his eyes softened and the broadest smile Harm had ever see appeared on his face as his gaze came to rest on Jen, "Jennifer! Great to see you again! But what on earth have you done to your hair? And what brings you all the way out here on a Sunday afternoon?"

Jen returned the older man's smile, her affection for the former admiral obvious in her face and her expression, "Hello, A J. I… we've come to ask you for a favour."

Chegwidden's flitted from one face to the other and back again, "You have, have you? Well, you'd best come in and tell me all about it!" He stood back to let them enter, gesturing in the direction of the lounge.

Harm let Jen lead the way and once she was sat on the couch settled beside her.

Chegwidden watched them, observing their body language but held his peace until he had settled into one of the armchairs. "Well, how can I help?" he asked, shrewdly eyeing Jennifer.

"Um… well… I… uh… we… that is Harm and I… well… we're getting married on May twelfth at La Jolla, at Harm's parents' place, and I wanted to know if you would consider going out to the west coast and give me away at the wedding…." Jen's voice trailed off uncertainly as she looked at her former employer and Chegwidden for his part noticed how Jen's hand unconsciously, it seemed, sought and found comfort in Harm's firm grasp.

Chegwidden pursed his lips and nodded thoughtfully, "I always thought that there was more to your feelings towards Mister Rabb than you ever let show, Jennifer. But what about you, Mister Rabb?"

Harm felt a flash of irritation that his former CO could even hint that there had been anything improper in his conduct towards any sailor, but he made an effort not to allow that irritation to show in his voice, "There was never anything untoward in my attitude to the then Petty Officer Coates, Mister Chegwidden," he replied flatly.

Chegwidden made an impatient slashing motion with his hand, "Dammit Rabb! Of course there wasn't! Do you think I am, or was, a total fool? No, your sense of honour, and the UCMJ and Navy Regs, would have kept you from making any approaches. I know that, and I knew that then! I'm not asking about what you did or didn't do. I'm asking you about how you felt!"

Harm stared levelly at the retired admiral and bit back the resentment at the older man asking him about his feelings. It was, after all, none of his business, but for some reason Chegwidden had become important to Jen, and if Jen wanted the former Seal to give her away at her wedding then he reluctantly supposed that he, Harm, needed to provide some sort of answer. "At first, I felt an almost proprietary interest in Jen. I was proud of her, proud of the effort she had made to turn her life around and I kept an eye on her so I could offer her the support and encouragement she needed at that time. And gradually I began to understand her, and learn a bit more about her, so when I needed help in looking after Mattie, I asked Jen not just because it helped us both at a difficult time, but also I had come to see that she had so many good qualities… integrity, loyalty and honesty that she would be a shining example to Mattie. During the time that Mattie spent with us, I… my feelings towards Jen underwent a change, and she… well… I became very much attracted to her. The difference in our ages, and as you say, our positions made any sort of romantic relationship between us impossible, and of course at that time I still thought I was in love with Mac. So I persuaded myself that what I felt towards Jen was no more affection than a brother would feel towards a sister."

"So, what changed, Mister Rabb? Jennifer said nothing to me about wanting to marry you. Not while she was still serving, and not once during the three years she worked for me as a civilian. So what changed, and when?"

"That would have been the week before last. I had only been back in DC for a week or so, when Jen came to see me in my office. As soon as I saw her, I felt happier than I had done for a long time, and then she kinda set out her stall and gave me a badly needed wake up. So, after doing what she told me, and thought things through, I called her. We arranged to meet for dinner and we talked things through and decided that we did love each other. As for the suddenness… well… I'm not getting any younger…"

"And I don't want to leave having children much longer, so we don't want or need a long engagement – we have known each other eleven years, so it's not really so sudden after all, is it, A J?"

Chegwidden chuckled, "When you put it like that, no, I guess not. You're a very lucky man, Mister Rabb."

"I am quite aware of that!" Harm replied stiffly.

Chegwidden sat back in his chair, a slow grin lightening his rather foreboding expression, "And you would have preferred to tell me to go to hell, instead of admitting all that wouldn't you, Mister Rabb? But I wasn't acting with any malicious intent, I just wanted to make sure that you weren't acting out of some impulse, that you hadn't made Jennifer one of your crusades."

Harm's own grin, pretty much against his inclination, made its own appearance as he shook his head. "No, I'm over that phase. Extra responsibility, at home and in the Navy has finally caused me to grow up. I'm not Peter Pan anymore," he said, deliberately offering an olive branch, "Besides, Jen knows me too well, and I'd bet a dollar against a dime that as soon as I started to show any symptoms like that, she'd bring me back down to earth so fast I'd think I'd gone onto a flat spin!"

"Damn straight!" Jen chimed in, bringing a chuckle from both men. Jen waited for the laughter to die, and feeling slightly relieved at even that minor sign of reduce tension between the two most important men in her life, she too relaxed slightly and smiled winningly at A J, "So, you'll fly out to the west coast and support me?" she asked.

"Stop it!" A J commanded with a grin, "I know exactly what you're doing with those eyes! But, yes, if you want me, I will be proud and honoured to walk you down the aisle!"

Jen's answering smile was one of pure happiness, but all she said was "Thank you, A J."

Chegwidden waved off her thanks, and said, "Was there anything else I can help you with?"

Harm shook his head and cocked an inquiring eyebrow at Jen, who caught his gaze, half-smiled and nodded.

"No, nothing else. Thank you, Mister Chegwidden. We've taken up enough of your Sunday, so by your leave?"

Chegwidden stood, a move followed by his guests, "Of course." He hesitated, "But if I'm going to be part of your wedding, then 'Mister Rabb' and 'Mister Chegwidden' are rather clumsy and distant forms of address. Do you think we might manage 'Harm' and 'A J' instead?"

Harm stood and stared at A J, undecided for a few moments then, unseen by A J, Jen gave him a slight nudge with her elbow and Harm turned his eyes to her upturned face and seeing the pleading expression there he looked back at his former CO, "We could try," he said.

"Alright, then we'll try… Harm," A J said.

"Yeah, okay… A J," Harm agreed.

Five minutes later as Harm paused at the end of the driveway to make sure the road was clear before pulling out, Jen turned to him and said simply, "Thank you, Harm. I know that was difficult."

"On so many levels, yes it was. But make no mistake Jen, A J and I aren't friends yet, we may never be, but at least we seem to have signed an armistice, and peace may just have broken out!"

xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

Jen walked into the NCIS MCRT bull pen at zero seven fifty hours on Monday morning, her ring on her finger, after all, as she'd said to Harm, "I'm not ashamed of it, I'm proud to wear it. And if other people have a problem with that, then it's their problem, not mine!"

Harm had gathered her into his arms, tilted her face up to his and kissed her long and lovingly.

"I'll see you this evening," he promised.

"M'mm…" she agreed but then added as a caveat, "Provided we're not out somewhere on a case. We can never tell in this job."

"Fair enough," Harm replied, but then sighed, "I've got to go Jen. I need to get back to Andrews and get into uniform before I report for duty."

Jen nodded, "Yeah… but wouldn't it be simpler if you moved out of VOQs and moved in here with me? It's not as if we're rushing things, not with the wedding six weeks away!"

Now she made her way quietly to her desk thankful, despite her earlier brave words that Tony DiNozzo's desk was to her right, but that meant that her left hand was nearest to Eleanor Bishop's desk and the flash of the diamond as it caught the light was not lost on the blonde, who despite her air of vagueness missed very little that went on around her.

Bishop waited until Jen had seated herself at her desk and booted up her computer before she stood and crossed the few feet to her desk, a folder in her hand. "Here's that report on delinquent dependants you wanted," she smiled and then in an undertone added, "So… it seems he was worth it, after all, congratulations."

Jen's thank you was ostensibly for the file, but was also a recognition of the other woman's good wishes and for not broadcasting her altered status to the whole bull pen. Jen couldn't help but contrast Bishop's behaviour with the behaviour that another blonde in another bull pen. If Jen had walked into JAG Ops with an engagement ring on her hand Harriet Sims, despite being one of the kindest people Jen knew, was also a hopeless romantic and helplessly excitable and she would have squealed with excitement and Jen would have been swamped by a tide of fellow female workers. As it was, Bishop just gave her a warm smile and a slight dip of her head.

Jen kept her own head down, concentrating on cross-referencing the delinquency figures to the cases displayed on her screen. It was, she readily acknowledged, scut-work, but as the probie on the team it was no more nor less than she had expected.

Unfortunately Jen was so absorbed on her task that she failed to notice DiNozzo stroll past her desk and she being left-handed the ring on her finger twinkled as she made notes on a legal pad.

"Whoa! Hey everyone! The probie's wearing an engagement ring! That wasn't there on Friday was it?" he looked around the bull pen silently asking for confirmation.

Jen sighed in frustration, the very thing she'd hoped to avoid had just happened, but it was bound to have come out sooner or later, so she bit her bottom lip and decided to make the best job she could of coping with the incurably nosy DiNozzo. In the first instant she decided to ignore the loud-mouthed agent and kept her eyes on her work.

DiNozzo flushed, he wasn't used to being ignored and he didn't like it. Being ignored was anathema to him. His narcissistic soul rebelled at being snubbed and he felt that being the centre of attraction was his due. Especially when the person ignoring him was the newest member of the team.

"Hey, probie, I'm talking to you!" he snapped.

"Were you? All I heard was your loud-mouthed broadcasting my personal business to everyone within earshot," Jen answered coolly.

"Watch your tone, probie," DiNozzo snapped.

"My tone is no more disrespectful than you trespassing into areas where you have no need to go."

"Not so, probie. I am the senior field agent on this team and I need to know about anything that might affect team cohesion and performance."

"Bullshit." Jen said levelly. "Your need to know, is driven only by your curiosity, which is fast becoming a pain in the ass. And while we're on the subject, in future keep your hands off my lunch, off my desk, off my computer and most definitely off my purse."

"You can't speak to me like that! You're heading for a writing up for insubordination!" DiNozzo blustered.

"Leave it alone, Tony," McGee said, "She's perfectly within her rights! Didn't Kate and Ziva teach you to leave other people's stuff alone? I seem to remember a thorough ass-kicking Ziva handed out to you in close quarter combat training for that very reason!"

"And what would you know about it, McGoody?" DiNozzo turned his frustrated spite on the other team member.

"Apparently more than you do," McGee countered apparently unruffled by DiNozzo looming over his desk.

"And how do you work that out, McGeek?"

"Well… look at us, Tony. I go home to Delilah every evening, and you? Well, you go home to the same empty bachelor apartment you've rented for the last ten, twelve years, and on the rare occasions when you actually get a date, you strut around the bull pen the next morning puffed up like a peacock. And if I recall, it's months since you last did that! So, what is it Tony, are you finally growing up, or is this the longest dry spell in recorded DiNozzo history? And how much longer has it been since you had more than a single date with any given woman? So it seems to me that my method has equipped me more to empathise with women than has yours."

"Empathise, McGirly? Getting back in touch with your feminine side?" DiNozzo sneered.

"At least he's got one," Eleanor Bishop intervened, "and unless you're looking for a head slap, I suggest you stop bugging your team mates and get back to your desk, because Gibbs should be arriving any second!"

Tony whirled to glare at the blonde. He had never been able to decide just how to take Bishop. The news that she was married had thrown him into a flat spin, his usual MO of joking flirtation had got him nowhere, and in fact had been counter-productive, she had merely given him a cool, appraising look and a contemptuous little smile before she had turned on her heel and walked away from him. It had taken six or seven repetitions of that act for the idea that she merely found him childishly amusing to work its way through DiNozzo's ego to his consciousness.

Hard on the heels of her words, and before DiNozzo could form a rebuttal, the elevator door hissed open and the grey-haired team leader strode into the bull pen, his usual Styrofoam cup of coffee in his hand, "Grab your gear!" he ordered as he retrieved his field kit from the floor beside his desk, "Dead Marine in Rock Creek Park!" and as he finished speaking he threw a set of keys to Tim McGee, "Tim, take the truck, Coates, Hood, go with him. Tony, you and Bishop with me! Well, what are you waiting for? Let's go!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Crossing the Same River**

**Chapter Three**

It was nearly ten hundred hours before Harm, in his opinion, had made a sufficient dent in the mountain of paperwork that greeted him on his entry to the office this morning. It seemed that Admiral Longstreet had worked at least part of the weekend and the results of at least some of her labours had landed in Harm's in-tray. With a determined squaring of his shoulder he had fought down his impatience at being reduced, as he saw it, from a litigator and commander of his own office, to being someone else's dog-robber. But he knew that he needed this staff appointment as well as his previous command assignment if he was going to progress beyond Captain. And with a lifetime with Jen just ahead of him, then progress would indeed have to be made.

And the thought of Jen spurred him into action. Reaching for his telephone he hastily consulted the JAG directory on his computer screen and dialled the JAG's Yeoman.

"_JAG's Office, Master Chief Yeoman Pickett, sir,_"

"Master Chief, good morning, this is Captain Rabb, I would like a few minutes of the Admiral's time when convenient to her, please?"

"_Hold the line, sir_."

Harm fretted and fumed while, presumably, the Master Chief conferred with his principal for what was in reality no more than thirty seconds or so before the Master Chief was back on the line. "_The Admiral says she can see you in ten minutes, sir._"

"Thank you, Master Chief!" Harm's relief made his thanks slightly more emphatic than usual and unseen to him, brought a faint look of surprise to the Master Chief's face.

The next ten minutes dragged by as if dipped in molasses so Harm, for once, was punctual to the second as he knocked and then entered the Master Chief's outer office.

Master Chief Pickett looked up from his computer as Harm entered and with a faint smile said, "Go right ahead, sir. The Admiral's waiting for you."

With a nod of acknowledgement and a brief smile, Harm turned to the solid mahogany door that like a castle's portcullis defended the Admiral's inner sanctum and banged the side of his fist twice on the door frame.

"Enter!"

Harm opened the door and then stepping through, half-turned to close it behind him before straightening and pacing quickly over the acres of carpet towards the solid desk at the far end of the room and the woman who sat behind it.

Admiral Petra Longstreet was fast approaching her sixtieth birthday, her somewhat lined face framed by her short-cropped iron-grey hair. As Harm approached, she stood to greet him, revealing that she was, proving once again the accuracy of scuttlebutt, a tall woman, taller than Mac, certainly, Harm judged, even as he approached, and maybe even as tall as his second partner at JAG, Meg Austin. He noticed too as he drew nearer that she had the same bright blue eyes that Meg had.

Suddenly realising that his few seconds of musing had closed the gap between them, Harm halted in his tracks, "Good morning, Admiral. Thank you for seeing me on such short notice."

"Good morning, Captain Rabb, please take a seat..." the Admiral regarded her new Chief of Staff with interest as he sat, and she took a few seconds advantage while she took her own seat to give him a brief, visual inspection. She had of course, personally selected Rabb for this new appointment, judging him by his service record and deciding that he had the edge on the other two candidates for the position. She had no complaints about his work so far, and from information received from the Deputy and Assistant JAGs on the one hand and from the Master Chief on the other, Rabb played well with others, and in conferences had proved both willing to listen to others and to come up with some good ideas of his own. So she hoped that this interview wasn't an indication that Rabb was unhappy with his post. If so, then so be it, the bullet had to be bitten.

"What can I do for you this morning, Captain?"

"I would like to request leave, ma'am, from May ninth through May fourteenth."

"Well..." Petra Longstreet blinked as she fought to marshal her thoughts, relieved that the reason for Rabb's request for an interview was nothing more serious. "It's not quite usual to apply for leave so soon after taking up a new post. But you know that, otherwise you would just have submitted the application though channels instead of coming to see me, wouldn't you?"

"Just so, ma'am," Harm replied with a slight smile, "But I am facing a rather substantial change in my personal circumstances, and I do need to take some leave in order to accomplish it. And if I may remind the Admiral, I have sixty days of accumulated leave on the books, and have had so for the last three or four years..."

Longstreet looked at him in astonishment at that news, "You mean you haven't taken any leave during that time?"

"A few days here and there ma'am, but then the next FY rolls around and there just hasn't been the time..."

"I see... but now you are no longer in command...?"

"There is that, ma'am, but if not for my personal circumstances, I would happily wait out the usual six months before applying, but..."

"And just what are your personal circumstances that have suddenly become so urgent?" Longstreet asked, her voice still pleasant, but with a hint of steel underlying it.

"I'm getting married, ma'am," Harm said simply.

Longstreet sat back in her chair and gazed at him owlishly for a few seconds, picked up her glasses from the desk, popped them on her nose and looked at him some more before she took the glasses off again. "There's no previous mention of an impending marriage, Captain! I would have thought it was something you would have had the courtesy to mention on your in-briefing?" Now there was a hint of censure in the Admiral's voice.

Harm leaned forward in his chair, his hands lightly clasped in front of him, his elbows resting on his knees and his eyes fixed firmly on the Admiral's. "Ma'am, if I would have known at my in-briefing that I would be getting married so soon, then I most certainly would have mentioned it!" he said earnestly.

"A sudden decision, then, Captain?"

Harm smiled, "Yes, ma'am, very much so..."

"I am assuming that you know your own mind, Captain Rabb, but is this something you are certain about? I mean, it seems that you have only just met... You've been in DC for less than a month..."

"The lady in question is not a new acquaintance, ma'am. We've known each other since oh one, so I suppose you could say that this is in effect far from a sudden... well... no, that's not true... the decision was taken quickly, but on the basis that our long term friendship has deepened and ripened, and it took only renewed proximity for us both to realise how we felt."

"In that case, Captain, you and your prospective bride have my congratulations and best wishes for a long and happy future together."

"There is only one more thing ma'am that perhaps you ought to know... My fiancée is former Navy... in fact before she separated she was a Legalman One who worked for General Cresswell and Admiral Chegwidden before him. And... Uh... she also shared the apartment next to mine with my former ward and adopted daughter, who is now Lieutenant Grace-Rabb..."

Longstreet's expression became stern. "How long ago did she separate?"

"About four years ago, ma'am."

"I see, and were Admiral Chegwidden and General Cresswell aware of what sounds to me like extremely unorthodox living arrangements? Arrangement that were bordering on wrongful co-habitation, or so it sounds!"

"Admiral Chegwidden was aware of the situation before it developed, and while neither he nor General Cresswell were particularly happy about it – in fact the General ordered an investigation to ensure that we weren't contravening Navy Regulations – they both, reluctantly I admit – let the situation ride."

Longstreet looked thoughtful, "I take it that there will be a record of that investigation somewhere in the archives?"

"I believe so, ma'am."

"H'mm... I see... And what does your fiancée do these days?"

"She spent three years working for the former Admiral Chegwidden as his para-legal, and then joined NCIS, ma'am, where she is now a probationary field agent."

Longstreet relaxed, a smile hovering around the corners of her mouth, "Well if Biff Cresswell was assured that there was nothing improper in your circumstances – and with his well-known disapprobation of anything that might smack of fraternisation – there is absolutely no point in re-launching an investigation into four-year old events. So, Captain Rabb, I take it you haven't as yet mentioned your impending change to anyone else in the building? No? In that case let me be the first to wish you and your bride very happy. Are you marrying locally?"

"No ma'am. My mother and stepfather are getting a tad too old to travel out east these days, so Jennifer and I will be marrying in La Jolla. Besides…" Harm resisted the temptation to shrug, "Many of our friends from our Falls Church days are now in San Diego and the surrounding area…"

"Ah yes… Commander Roberts and his family!"

"Just so, ma'am," Harm agreed.

Longstreet nodded again, the smile just still in evidence, "In that case Captain Rabb, your request for leave is approved… provided you bring me back a slice of the cake!"

Harm recognising an implicit dismissal stood and braced to attention, "Aye, aye, ma'am!"

Breathing a silent "Whew!" Harm walked back to his own office and with a smile and a wave-off for Letterwood's attempt to come to her feet, he let himself into his office and picked up the phone. Talking a breath he dialled the number.

"_JSLO South West, Commander Roberts speaking_," the familiar voice filled Harm's ear and a smile of pleasure broke across his face.

"Hey there, Bud, how's it going?"

"_Harm? I… uh… I mean sir! It's good to hear you voice again, sir! How are you? Harriet and the kids will be thrilled to hear you called. Are you still in DC? Have you got any plans for coming out West? Mattie's fine, I saw her last week when I was at North Island and…"_

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Bud! Slow down! One question or one bit of news at a time! Yes, I am in DC, but give my love to Harriet and the brood!"

"_Oh, I will, sir! I will_!"

"Easy, Bud, take a breath, I haven't finished yet! Yes, I have made plans to come out to the West Coast. In fact that's why I'm calling. Bud… I find myself in need of a Best Man, would you care to…"

"_You're getting married, sir? That's great! And you're getting married out here? That's even better! Of course I'll stand up with you!_" Bud enthused while Harm sat back with a grin and listened to the exuberance in his friend's voice, "_Just tell me where and when and what the uniform of the day is_!"

"No uniform, Bud. I haven't gone firm on dress yet… but… do you have, or can you get hold of a white tux?"

"_Can do_!" Bud agreed, his enthusiasm not diminished by one jot.

"Good… It's an evening wedding at Far Point, that's about five minutes' walk from mom and Frank's house. It's on the twelfth of next month, and of course you, Harriet, the boys and the twins are all invited."

"_We'll be there sir_!" Bud exclaimed, and then he allowed a note of curiosity into his voice, "_Ah… who's the lucky lady, sir? If you don't mind me asking?_"

"Of course I don't mind you asking, Bud. Jennifer Coates has done me the honour of agreeing to marry me. Of course I think she's out of her…"

"_Jennifer Coates_!" Bud exclaimed, "_Why, that's wonderful, sir! You couldn't have asked a better woman_!"

Harm blinked in astonishment, "Really?"

"_Of course, really, sir! I always thought that you and she were more aware of each other than either of you could afford to let on; she did such a marvellous job helping you with Mattie, so no, I'm not really surprised. A little astonished at the speed of things, but then, you know me sir! Most things astonish me_!"

"Not as much as you like people to think, Bud! And that dumb act of yours in court has fooled more than one witness and even opposing counsel!"

"_It has its uses, I admit_," and Harm could hear the grin in Bud's voice.

"_Uh…sir_?"

"Yes, Bud?"

"_Is this strictly between us, or can it be generally known_?"

"Oh… no… no… By all means let people know. I shall be inviting Jason Tiner and his wife, and I don't suppose for a minute you'll be able to prevent Harriet from spreading the news!"

"_Try to stop Harriet from telling the world that one of her oldest friends is finally getting married? Not a hope, sir_!" Bud laughingly agreed. He loved his wife to the bottom of his heart, but he was well aware of her propensity for scuttlebutt, especially if it was scuttlebutt of a romantic nature.

"Agreed!" Harm said with a laugh. "I'll call you back a bit nearer the date so we can finalise arrangements!"

"_Right, sir! Oh… and just in case I forgot… congratulations and best wishes to you and Jen… and please let her know that I… that… well..._"

"I will, Bud. Goodbye."

"_Goodbye, sir_!" Bud put the phone down on its cradle and gazed at it thoughtfully. He was thrilled to hear that Harm was getting married, and he was genuinely pleased that it was Jennifer Coates whom he was marrying. The only fly in the ointment that he could foresee was Harriet's long held, and for all he knew, still cherished belief that Harm and Mac were destined for each other. He could only hope and pray that Harriet would listen to his own reasons and his belief as to why that never was and never could have been on the cards. However he knew that Harriet was still in fairly regular contact with Mac, but just for once he had to impress upon Harriet that this was one piece of news the former Lieutenant Colonel of Marines did not need to know.

**xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx**

It was nearly nineteen hundred hours before the team returned to the Navy Yard from Rock Creek Park, and Jen's feet were killing her. While she had made every effort to maintain, and even improve on her Navy mandated fitness levels, she ruefully realised that sitting behind a desk as a Legalman and then as A J's para-legal had left her feet sorely – she grimaced inwardly at the unintended pun – had left her throbbing appendages ill-suited to standing around all day long. Now all she really wanted was a long, hot shower, climb into her usual sleeping outfit of t-shirt and boxer shorts, grab a sandwich and a glass of milk and then tumble into bed.

The scene of crime, given that it involved a body, hadn't been unduly gruesome, a Marine Corporal found, half hidden by some shrubbery by a popular walking trail, had been fully dressed in civilian shirt and slacks with a small hole between his eyes, but there had been delay after delay in processing the scene. The first delay was caused by what Jen was rapidly coming to see as a routine spat over jurisdiction. Naturally the couple who found the body had called the metro PD and despite the civilian police controller then calling NCIS once the identity of the body had been discovered, the detective on the scene had carped about handing over jurisdiction and then his notes to Gibbs. The situation had only been resolved when Gibbs turned his back on the police officer and had let Ellie Bishop gently lead Detective Toussaint away from the scene, talking earnestly to him all the time, and then with a friendly smile watched him get into his car and drive away before returning to Gibbs and presenting him with a couple of pages torn from Toussaint's notebook.

Gibbs accepted the offering with a grunt that might have meant thanks and turned to wave the patiently waiting Ducky Mallard and Jimmy Palmer in to examine the body.

Gibbs barely gave them five minutes before he rasped out, "Time of death?"

Ducky looked up in mild annoyance while Jimmy after a fleeting look at his senior checked the temperature displayed on the liver probe, "Between ten thirty and midnight last night."

Again a Gibbs grunt, "Cause of death, Ducky?"

"Jethro, how many crime scenes have we attended? And just how many times have you asked that same question? And how many times have I told you that I won't know for sure until I have had a chance to carry out a post-mortem?" He paused and then said with heavy emphasis on the first word, "However… at a first glance I would say that cause of death was a single shot to the front of the head with a small to medium calibre bullet, and if the stippling around the wound is any indication then the shot was fired at very close range. No more than about three or four feet."

Gibbs turned down the corner of his mouth, "Any defensive wounds?"

Palmer turned over the dead Marine's hands and looked at them and his forearms for any indications, "No, not a one," he said firmly.

Gibbs chewed his bottom lip, "That means he was taken by surprise…"

"Or that he knew his attacker?" Jen suggested.

Gibbs shot her a quick look, "Okay… maybe… Bishop, get his ID details from his tags and look up his Service Record. Hood, perimeter search… thirty yards…"

"On it boss, but what am I looking for?"

"Anything, dammit! We don't have any leads, so far, so anything, gum wrappers, cigarette butts, maybe even the murder weapon, so get looking!"

"Yes, boss!"

"DiNozzo, Coates, sketch and shoot!"

"On it, boss," they replied in chorus.

"I've got the camera, probie, so you take the sketch book, and don't forget to make measurements," DiNozzo said patronisingly.

"I won't," Jen smiled easily, "But don't you forget to take the lens cap off!" and turned back towards the body, pencil already in hand as she tried to push aside the annoyance that DiNozzo had just engendered.

Ducky and Jimmy eventually loaded the body onto a gurney and into the back of the ME's truck and Gibbs called the rest of the team together. "Hood. Anything?"

"Coupla pieces of trash, boss, figured I'd hand them to Abby to see if she can get any usable DNA, it might not come to anything…"

"But it might at that," Gibbs finished for him. "Bishop?"

Corporal Hill, Daniel H, third battalion second Marines based at LeJeune. Currently on furlough having just returned from a tour in Afghanistan. MOS: 0331, machine gunner. Home town is Sharpsburg, Maryland."

"Sharpsburg… not too far away, fifty, maybe sixty miles…an hour's drive in light traffic…" Gibbs mused. "Okay… we need to allow time for his unit to notify his family…" he cocked an eyebrow at Bishop.

"Mon and Dad, own a seven-eleven store on Potomac Street, Sharpsburg…"

"Uh huh… Okay, Bishop, McGee with me back to the Yard. DiNozzo, you Hood and Coates, expand the search area, make the perimeter one hundred yards. Hood, bag and tag what you've got so far and hand it to Bishop. Let's go!"

Jen had given a mental sigh at being stuck out there with DiNozzo and without Gibbs' restraining presence. Not that she wasn't confident about handling DiNozzo, it was just that given her druthers she be happier without having to.

Her worst fears were soon realised, sending Jen and Sam Hood on counter facing walkabouts, DiNozzo insinuated himself alongside Jen as she walked a circular path, her eyes fixed on the ground.

"So…" he began without preamble, "Who's the lucky guy, or should that be unlucky stiff? Are you going to tell us, or do you mean to keep is all in the dark?"

"Yep."

"Yep what?"

"Yep, I'm going to keep you all in the dark."

"Now… that's hardly fair is it? I mean, here we all are, trying to make you welcome into our team, and you shut us out of an important part of your life…"

"Damn straight I do! Firstly the 'important' part of my life is just that. As well as being very private it is too important to me to go shooting my mouth off about it; unlike some people I could mention I do manage to keep my private and professional life separated!" Jen gave DiNozzo a challenging look.

"And just what do you think you mean by that, probie?" DiNozzo challenged Jen in turn, his thumbs hooked into his belt so that his fingers pointed down towards his groin.

Jen had intended to go a little easy on him, but his stance and his arrogance and the sneer on his face as well as in his voice as he called her 'probie' pushed her further than she had intended. "Two words, DiNozzo," she said and paused for effect "Jeanne Benoit."

DiNozzo stopped dead in his tracks, his fists clenched and his face went white, "What the fu… You stay the hell out of my business, probie!"

"No, it's not nice when someone pokes their nose in is it Agent DiNosey… I mean DiNozzo. Look, I'll make a deal with you, you stay the hell out of my life and I'll stay the hell out of yours. Hey, and who knows, we might even be able to work together after all!"

DiNozzo shook his head, "I won't forget this, probie!" he gritted through clenched teeth.

"Good, because I'd hate to have to bring this up again!" Jen said firmly. "And now, I believe we have work to do!"

And that was what they did, Jen reflected as she relaxed under the needles of water emanating from the shower head. She didn't know just what Harm had done to the shower when he first installed it all those years ago, but she could certainly understand that flight attendant, Maria Elena plus forty-eleven other names, loving it so much.

Yep, DiNozzo had kept her and Sam Hood walking around the crime scene all afternoon, which was one of the reasons that her feet ached so much. Sure, she suspected it was his petty, spiteful way of getting his own back on her, and she grimaced it was unfortunate that Sam Hood had had to suffer too. Still, the next time they went for an after watch drink, she'd belly up to the bar and buy him a beer as an apology.

Not that she could do much else. Despite her conviction as to DiNozzo's motive, she knew that he could simply pass off his instructions as ensuring that he and his two juniors had done a thorough job.

The only bright spot of the day had been when she hurried after Gibbs as he left the office and slipped into the elevator with him just as the doors started to close.

"In a hurry, Coates?" he had asked with a faint grin.

"Yeah, a bit. A hurry to talk with you, without having the whole bull-pen hear what I've got to say!"

Gibbs sighed silently and leaned forward, flicking the emergency stop switch so that the elevator ground to a between floors halt. He had half been expecting a complaint from Coates ever since he had overheard the tail end of her argument with DiNozzo this morning. "Well, go ahead, get it off your chest," he recommended.

"Um… the thing is, boss, I want… no, I need to take a few days leave next month. I know I haven't been here very long but I do have a week on the books, and I'd only need five days…"

"Don't see why not," Gibbs agreed, "Special reason?"

"Um… Yeah, I'm getting married in La Jolla on twelfth of next month, so I'd like the eleventh through fifteenth off."

Gibbs nodded, "I saw the rock, but figured you'd come to me when the time was right. A bit sudden?"

"A little," Jen admitted, "but we've known each other for years, it's just that the time wasn't right for a long time, and then it… just was…"

Gibbs nodded and flicked the switch back to the on position, "Bring me the paperwork in the morning, Coates."

"Will do, and boss…"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Gibbs grunted an acknowledgement and smiled. One of the things he liked about Probationary Agent Coates was that she was always polite and well mannered, but under that surface he reckoned she had a will and a backbone of steel.

He was still musing on Jennifer Coates as he drove home, and halfway to his house, things suddenly fell into place. 'I wouldn't mind betting after she pulled his SRB the other week that she's marrying Rabb… And of course they've known each other for years, she used to be Navy with him! That was pretty quick work on her part, she must have set her sights set on him right from the get go! I like that girl!' he told himself as his face cracked into a huge grin. 'Sure wish I could be there when DiNozzo finds out it's Rabb!'

Jennifer, totally and happily unaware of Gibbs' thought processes just as happily dried herself on a thick, fluffy bath towel and opening the bathroom closet for her toothbrush her eyes fell on the little, blue, circular dispenser. Not that she'd had any cause for birth control for a long time, but they did help regulate her periods; and she had definite cause to use them now – if she wanted to. But she didn't and with a grin of anticipation she snapped open the lid and shook the contents into the toilet bowl and pressed the cistern handle. Still smiling, she quickly brushed her teeth and pulling on a pair of boxers and a t-shirt, stuffed her feet into her slippers and headed for the kitchen, thoughts of a Davy Crockett and a glass of milk foremost in her mind, only for her train of thought to be diverted, if not totally de-railed by the summons of her phone. Checking the caller ID, her face split into a huge dimple creating smile and she flopped gracelessly – hey there was no one to check her for unladylike posture – onto the couch and picked up, "Hey Harm!"

"Hi, sweetheart, how was your day?"

"Better now that I can hear your voice!" Jen assured him, twining her index finger through her damp hair.

"Would it be better if I called around?" Harm asked, trying to prevent his voice from showing too much eagerness.

"Oh… far, far better!" Jen gurgled.

"Okay… um… the thing is, I have a sea-bag with me, is that okay?"

"More than okay! It will be good!"

"Fine… shall I pick up anything to eat?" Harm asked.

Jen shook her head, realising as she did so that it was impossible for Harm to see her, "No, no need," she answered with a grin for her own foolishness. "I'm a little too tired to make a go of dinner, I was just going to make a sandwich and have a glass of milk… I could make one for you too… egg salad be okay?" she asked, sighing a wistful farewell to her Davy Crocket.

"That would be great. I'll pick up a six-pack though, shall I?"

The thought of a cold beer made Jen's mouth water and she imagined the feel of the chilled can against her cheeks. "Oh, yeah, that would be great… but I warn you the way I feel right now, one beer is probably all it will take to put me under for the night!"

"That's a chance I'm willing to take," Harm smiled. "See you in twenty!"

xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

While she waited for Harm Jen silently debated the merits of getting dressed again, but in the end decided just to shrug on her blue terry-cloth bath robe, which she whimsically judged to match the colour of Harm's eyes when he was in a good humour. It was funny, she reflected, she'd heard about people with changeable eyes and had always disregarded the tales as being no more than poetic licence. That was until she had met Harm. Happy Harm had eyes of deep blue, his concern was reflected by a tinge of green along with the blue and an angry Harm had hard, grey-green eyes, like the ocean in stormy weather. And when they made love… ahhh… Jen curled up in the corner of the couch, a throw pillow hugged to her chest and lost herself in thoughts and recent memories, a smile playing about the corner of her mouth so that it was with a start of annoyance that she heard the rap at the door, but then realising that it could only be Harm, leapt to her feet and swiftly crossing the room threw the door open and into his arms, her mouth reaching for his.

Harm let his sea-bag fall and almost dropped the six-pack, but managed to keep a precarious hold on it as he scooped Jen up in his free arm, answering her kiss with an urgency of her own.

Finally breaking for air they stood, still nose to nose, and Harm said breathlessly, "Wow… if that's the sort of welcome I get with a six pack of light beer, what happens when I bring champagne home?"

Jen grinned up at him and then stepped back, her hand holding his, drawing him into the apartment. "Well… you'll just have to try it and see!"

"I do believe I will," Harm smiled as he placed the six-pack on the counter, and ripping open the end of the wrapping, "Here ya go, still cold from the chill cabinet!"

Jen popped the cap of the bottle Harm passed her and took a log sip, holding the cold drink in her mouth to relish the chill. "M'mm… s'good," she exclaimed after swallowing. "Now pass the rest of them, here, no sense in letting them get warm. And take a seat!" she added as she placed the remaining bottles in the fridge and took the sandwich ingredients out.

"So… how was your day?" Harm asked as perched on one of the breakfast stools before he smeared Jen's preferred non-dairy spread on the bread while Jen cracked open a pair of hard-boiled eggs.

"Murdered Marine in Rock Creek Park, shot in the face at point-blank range, no apparent motive…" Jen shrugged, her eyes becoming bleak, "Only a kid, a Corporal, twenty-three years old… no indication at the scene… so someone will be off to LeJeune tomorrow, while someone else heads up to Sharpsburg, Maryland, to see if there is anyone at either end who held a big enough grudge so that they'd murder him. So, I'd say that the odds of me being back home tomorrow evening are two to one against." Jen gave herself a mental shake, "Other than that, just a couple of attempts from DiNozzo to pry all the facts out of me that he could, on the excuse that he needs to know anything that might affect team cohesion!" Jen rolled her eyes and shook her head in negation as she sliced the eggs and started to tear up a couple of lettuce leaves.

"Well, don't let him get away with giving you a hard time," Harm advised her as he sliced a tomato.

"M'mm… do you want mayo on yours?" Jen asked before she said, "No way. I shot him down pretty well fair and square about mid-morning… what is it you intrepid birdmen say? Oh yeah… crashed and burned!"

"Intrepid birdmen? Ouch!" Harm grinned. "So… want to hear about my day? Nowhere near as eventful as yours. Mostly just pushing paper from my in-tray to my out-tray. Most of it I don't understand but Letterwood delivers the papers, insists I sign them and then takes them away. I've no idea where they come from or what happens to them once she whisks them off my desk…"

"It's a good job I know you too well to believe that!" Jen scolded him, "You're far too conscientious not to know exactly what you're signing!"

"And yeah, I have been, ever since you slipped Mattie's application for a driver's permit into a stack of case files that needed signing off!" Harm retorted, but with a grin of remembrance. "Anyway, apart from that I bearded the dragon on her den, and got my leave approved, and then I called Bud, to ask him to be my best man. Which reminds me, if you're going to be out of town tomorrow, I'd best try and find some wedding invitation cards! I figure if we get proforma cards, we can fill in the details by hand…"

"M'mm… I guess so, I don't suppose we've got time to get them printed…"

"No, probably not, oh… thanks…" Harm took the offered sandwich from Jen, took a bite and chewed. "How about you? Did you get leave?"

Jen swallowed before she replied, "Oh yeah! Tackled Gibbs in his private office…" she grinned at the in-joke, "and he was quite happy for me to take those few days! How did Bud take the news?"

"Very calmly. So far he's the only one who hasn't queried our getting married, or the age difference, or… in fact, he was surprisingly not surprised, almost as if he'd been expecting this… You didn't call him before I did, did you?"

"No, of course not! But, you know better than anyone else, Bud is a darned sight smarter than a lot of folks give him credit for."

"M'mm…" Harm was forced to agree, but then looked up at Jen again as another thought crossed his mind, "You… uh… didn't happen to mention to Gibbs who it was you're marrying?"

Jen shrugged, "Nope, didn't figure it was none of his never-mind, at least until I go back to work and have to change my personnel record. And even then, that will be done through HR and not MCRT."

"Sounds fair enough to me," Harm nodded.

"Why is it so important to you that he doesn't know?" Jen asked.

Harm picked up their two plates and sidled around the end of the breakfast bar towards the sink, "Oh, come on, Jen. You were there when his sloppy, rushed investigation nearly put me behind bars… Thank God that Loren woke from her coma and corroborated the evidence that Goth freak found on my cover before that anally retentive pencil sharpener saw me locked up in Leavenworth"

"Yes, of course I was, but I don't understand why you don't want him to know about us."

Harm rinsed off the two plates, "Grab us each another beer and let's go sit down…"

Jen, still mystified, did as Harm suggested and within a minute they were snuggled together on the couch.

"I've met Gibbs a couple of times since then, and he always came over as being hostile. I don't know, maybe he resents me because I'm living proof that he got it wrong for once. So, it's his resentment that worries me – and that he might take it out on you…"

"M'mm… do I have to remind you that I'm a big girl now, and that if I need to, I can handle Gibbs?"

"I know that, but I'd much rather you didn't have to."

Harm and Jen both fell silent for a while as they sipped their beers companionably until Harm said tentatively, "Do you know what happened to Loren? I know she resigned, but…"

"No, she didn't resign," Jen corrected him quietly. "She never completely recovered from the brain injury and she was awarded separation on medical grounds. She teamed up with a former client, a Lieutenant Marx, I think, and they opened a child advocacy practice in Fredericksburg, and as far as I know, she's still there running it."

Harm shook his head as a wave of genuine regret washed over him, "Such a waste… You know, she was a good attorney, it's just that she was so driven by her need to be seen to be better than everyone else that she was willing to take shortcuts… and look where it got her…"

Jen nodded but before she could make a reply she was suddenly seized by a huge yawn which she only just managed to smother. Struggling upright and slipping out from under Harm's arm where it had settled around her shoulders, she grinned sheepishly, "I did tell you that I was tired, didn't I?" Harm nodded.

"Well, let's finish these and then I'm going to slip into something more comfortable – like bed," she grinned, "And then when you've taken a shower and are all nice and squeaky clean, then you can join me!"

"Are you implying that I stink?" Harm asked in a mock growl.

"Nope, just stating it plain and simple!" Jen replied with a laugh. "Go on, hit the shower, I'll try to stay awake until you join me."

Fifteen minutes later Harm, freshly showered and shampooed dried himself off and slipped into fresh boxers and a t-shirt he pulled from his sea-bag and quietly slid under the covers to join a barely awake Jen. As careful as he had been he still created enough disturbance to make Jen roll over to face him and open her eyes.

"Hey, gorgeous," he smiled as he kissed the tip of her nose.

"Hey, handsome. What are you doing in my bed?" Jen smiled in return.

"Just obeying orders – your orders to join you once I was squeaky clean!"

"Oh… that's okay then," Jen breathed and closed her eyes again, letting sleep claim her.

Harm lay on his side watching her as his eyes became accustomed to the faint light from the street seeping into the bedroom around the edges of the window drapes, until he too closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.

xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

Jen awoke at her usual time of six thirty to an empty bed and the aroma of fresh-brewed coffee in the air. Pulling on her bathrobe she walked through to the kitchen area, rubbing her bleary eyes, "'Morning, you," she greeted Harm, looping an arm around his neck to draw him down for her kiss.

"Morning to you too," Harm grinned. Jen had a bad case of bed-head and her face was still pillow marked, her eyes were bleary and puffy and she still looked absolutely adorable. "I didn't mean to wake you," he said apologetically.

"M'mm… you didn't," Jen corrected him reaching for a coffee mug and the pot of coffee, "M'mm… s'good…" she took another sip, "I always used to wait until you'd been to the galley in Falls Church, in the hope that you'd had to make a fresh pot. You always made good coffee."

"I tried," Harm agreed with mock humility.

"Clown," Jen murmured with a loving smile, but then finally noticed that Harm was showered and shaved and looking around she spotted his sea-bag, all closed up and ready to go, standing by the apartment door.

"I hate those things," she said apparently apropos of nothing.

"Huh?" Harm asked his coffee mug halfway to his mouth.

"Sea-bags," Jen enlightened him, "Always sea-bags, a constant reminder that people have to go…" she let her voice trail off and looked speculatively at the bag for long seconds, "But it doesn't always have to mean that." She turned with sudden decision and looked Harm straight in the eyes, "Move your stuff out of VOQs and move in here, with me!"

Harm smiled, "Oh, Jen, I'd love to. I want nothing more than to be with you night and day, but I thought we'd decided that this place is too small for the two of us."

"Nope. You decided that, I just listened to your reasons." Jen hitched herself up onto a stool, "Look, we're getting married in just a touch over five weeks. We still haven't made a real start on looking for somewhere to live, and even if we found somewhere today, what are the chances that we could move in before the wedding? Pretty slim, huh? So what were you planning to do after we're married, stay in VOQs on your own, while I stay here on my own while we wait for the perfect place to come up? Nuh-huh, not in my book we don't!"

Harm blinked in astonishment and then ginned, "Nicely argued counsellor. Jen, let me think about it and…"

"What's to think?" Jen interrupted. "This is non-negotiable, mister! Or are you suddenly getting cold feet?"

"Oh, Jen! Never!" Harm stood and pulled Jen off her stool, folding her into a hug. He kissed the top of her head as she buried her face in his shoulder, "Jen, you are the best thing that's ever happened to me. Of course I'm not getting cold feet. I told you, a five minute trip in front of a judge and I'd be ecstatic just being married to you. My only concern is that we'll be falling over ourselves here…"

"And your mom, Mattie and Harriet would still be lining up to murder us!" Jen joked. "And anyway, we may not be tripping over ourselves this evening; remember I may well be in Sharpsburg or LeJeune tonight. So you'd better have these…" Jen opened one of the drawers below the kitchen worktop and brought out a pair of keys on a loop of string, "I'm sure you recognise these…" she teased him.

Harm grinned, "Yep, building door and apartment door. Okay… You win, I'll pack up my stuff… just clothes, the rest is in storage or still on its way from England, and I'll make arrangements to quit the VOQ, okay?"

"Very okay," Jen smiled and then glanced at the kitchen clock, "But if you're heading back there to change into uniform before turning to, then you haven't got much time, so get moving!"

"I will, I will!" Harm drained the last of his coffee and turned towards the door and then stopped in his tracks and turned back, scooping Jen into his arms before kissing her thoroughly. "And have I told you this morning, that I love you?" he asked gently.

"No… you haven't," said Jen as she leaned back against the breakfast bar, her knees seemingly having turned to jello at some point during that kiss, "So it's nice to know!"

"Good… because I do… Give me a call and let me know if they're sending you out of town."

"Will do," Jen confirmed and stayed leaning against the counter. A sappy smile on her face as Harm closed the apartment door behind him.

Shaking her head in wonder at the sudden and dramatic turn her life had taken she wandered towards the bathroom, the sappy smile still in place but then stopped as an expression of horror dawned on her face and she turned back and bolted to the full length window that opened onto the fire escape. Throwing the window open she stepped outside, ignoring the bite of the cold metal work on her feet and sighed with relief as she looked down the three storeys to see Harm just opening the door to his car.

"Harm!" she called out and had the satisfaction of seeing his startled expression as he looked up.

"I love you, too!" she called out in her clear voice.

Harm grinned, waved and then blew her a kiss which she unabashedly returned, before he climbed into the Lexus, and still chuckling drove out of the alley onto Fourth Street NE. Grinning, he reflected that Jen had a point, it was dumb for them to remain apart, as if there wasn't going to be enough separation through their work. Not that he was expecting to spend long periods away from DC now, not in his current role, but there might still be a need for an attorney with an understanding of naval aviation. And hey, it would be neat for them to leave home together and drive to the Navy Yard together – that was one unanticipated bonus of Admiral Longstreet's insistence that JAG move back to its old, but renovated home in the middle of Washington.

Harm's smile lasted all through the drive to the Navy Yard, being impervious even to some of the grosser idiocies committed by other drivers on the road, but he did reflect that maybe the various DMVs ought to tighten up on their procedures, it even lasted through the signing in process at the Marine-manned PCP in the entry lobby where Sergeant Julia Hernandez (née Somers) returned his smile and as he entered the elevator turned to her Corporal, "It's good to see Captain Rabb back in DC!"

"You know him?" Corporal Lewis Armistead asked in mild surprise.

"Oh, yeah…" Julia smiled reminiscently, "back in the day when JAG was still at Falls Church and he was still a Commander!"

Corporal Armistead said nothing – Somers could be lethal in hand to hand combat training if someone upset her – but contented himself with a speculative glance at his squad leader and the unspoken thought that the diminutive blonde, despite being married, had a bit of a crush on the tall attorney who wore aviator wings.

Harm's unusually high spirits this morning were also noticed by his Yeoman as he breezed through her outer office, waving off, as usual, her attempt to stand and come to attention on his arrival.

"Anything earth shattering in that pile, Yeoman Two?" he asked nodding towards her overloaded out-tray, most of the contents of which he was pretty sure was destined for his in-tray.

"No, sir!"

"Good… in that case, could it wait five minutes while you conjure up a coffee?"

"Of course, sir!" Diane Letterwood rose to her feet and waited while Harm entered his office before she bustled away to the galley to brew a fresh pot of coffee. If there was one thing she had learned about her new boss in the couple of weeks he'd been here, it was that he couldn't abide coffee that was too weak or had been left to stand.

Ten minutes later, the taste of the last of his coffee still fresh in his mouth, Harm's study of the staff leave plot for the next financial year was interrupted by the buzz of his desk top intercom unit, "Yes, Yeoman Two?"

"_Sir, message from Admiral Longstreet. There is to be a manning conference at eleven hundred, in the small conference room_."

"Very good, make sure to give me a reminder at ten fifty hours," Harm replied. Not that he would forget being summoned but there was always a chance that the time might slip away without him noticing while his nose was buried in a file or two. 'Not that I'm about to get too immersed in anything, as long as I keep getting interrupted!' Harm thought ruefully as he reached out to grab the telephone, which was now noisily demanding his attention.

"Rabb," he said curtly.

"_Hey, handsome, it's me… just to let you know that you might have to use those keys this evening… I'm just about to leave for Sharpsburg with Gibbs and McGee. Going to interview our Marine's friends and family, see if we can pick up a lead. I can't say I'm looking forward to meeting the grieving parents, but it's got to be done and it was either that or an overnight down to LeJeune with DiNosy, so I'm better off this way 'round. I don't think we'll be too late getting back, but I thought I'd best let you know so you don't worry."_

Harm bit back a sigh. Of course this sort of thing was going to happen, Jen had warned him specifically that there would be times when she was away from home for shorter or longer periods. At least she wouldn't be gone for as long or as much as he had been during his investigative past. "Okay, sweetheart, take it easy up there, and I'll pit a casserole in the oven so we can eat when you get back, 'kay?"

"_Yeah, that's great… Oh… and there's just one more thing_…"

"What's that?" Harm asked with a smile.

"_Oh… just that I love you…_"

"And I love you. Take care. 'Bye," Harm smiled again as he put the handset back on the hook and then had to think furiously for a second while he remembered what was he had intended before Jen's call. Pressing the call button on his intercom he said, "Yeoman Two?"

"_Yes, sir_?"

"Dig out the JAG Corps Manning Plot and the Manning Policy file, please."

"_Already got them, sir_."

"Good, well done, bring 'em in, please."

"_Aye, aye, sir."_

Harm spent the next two hours going through the two files he had requested, making copious notes on a legal pad as he did so, but also remembering to keep a sharp eye on the time, so it was that just as he stacked files and pad together the intercom buzzed, "Yes?"

"_Ten fifty hours, sir_."

"Thank you, Yeoman Two. I'm on my way!"

The small conference room, when Harm got there was already occupied, with the four AJAGs as well as the DJAG, Rear Admiral (Upper Half) Stiles Morris and Harm eyed him warily; even after all these years he still wasn't quite sure whether Morris had forgiven him for letting loose a burst of automatic gunfire in his courtroom. But on this occasion it seemed that the senior officer was in a good mood, "Rabb! Come on in!"

His cheerful voice attracted the attention of the other senior officers present and Morris, smiling hugely said, "I guess you've already met everybody, so there's no need for introductions, come and sit down and then as soon as the Admiral arrives we can get started."

Harm had indeed already made his number with the four AJAGs and in one case had renewed a previous acquaintance from his days a Falls Church; newly promoted Rear Admiral (Lower Half) Amy Helfman was now Chief Judge and the Assistant JAG commanding all the members of the Navy and Marine Corps judiciary. He exchanged a polite nod with her, relieved to note that she also offered him a smile of welcome, and recalled with a spurt of pleasure the dry humour with which she had appointed him Jennifer Coates' escort all those years ago. He would have to pick his moment of course, but he had a feeling that she would be pleased to think that she had in effect introduced him to his future wife. And just contemplating that word in connection with Jen brought on an even deeper wave of pleasure. Not that he was given much leisure to enjoy the sensation as the door opened and Master Chief Pickett's stentorian voice, "Admiral on deck!" brought all officers to their feet as Admiral Longstreet entered the room and walked the length of the table before taking her proper seat at the head of it.

Looking down the table she smiled slightly, "Be seated, please," and waited until her officers had complied before she continued. "As most of you are aware I spent most of yesterday afternoon, and a good part of the evening at the Pentagon. It is not yet to be discussed outside of this room, but the next few months will see a drastic draw down in the numbers of troops on the ground in Iraq, with a consequent reduction to their supporting forces, including the Navy JAG Corps' contribution, both ashore and afloat. As a consequence, a number of JAGs ranging in rank from 0-3 to 0-6 will need reassigning. My first thought is that we could release the IAMs back to their civilian jobs and simply replace them on a one to one basis. But a closer look at the situation shows that we cannot take the simplest route. There are one or two very square pegs in very round holes – and I'm sure that Admiral Beauregard and Admiral Jackson can immediately identify those to whom I refer."

The head of the Military Law section and the Director of Operations both nodded grimly. Their two departments had borne the brunt of some dubious past decisions and appointments.

"Just so," Admiral Longstreet remarked dryly, and opening the buff coloured folder she brought with her, she extracted half a dozen sheets of paper which she passed down both sides of the table. Perversely, because Harm was at the foot of the table he was the first to receive his copy of the list of names scheduled for re-appointing after long tours at CENCOM and with the various Fleet Battle Groups. Of the score or so of names on the list, two caught his eye, those of Commander Tracy Manetti and Captain Carolyn Murray. Tracy's name he noted was marked with an asterisk as were three other names on the list, another Commander, a Lieutenant Commander and a Lieutenant.

Harm looked up, his intent to ask a question plain to read in his face, but he was stopped shirty by a wry smile from his CO as she said, "I see that some of you have noticed that a few names have been marked up. To save time, I will tell you all now that those individuals have been, provisionally, selected for the next round of promotions boards, and unless any of you have any objections, I shall go firm on those nominations.

She stared down both sides of the table waiting to hear any dissent but when none was forthcoming nodded with satisfaction. Good! Now, apart from those individuals does anyone here have any specific appointment in mind for those names on the list? But bear in mind, people that these officers have been stationed outside CONUS for anything up to three years, and I would need to hear a very convincing reason for them to PCS anywhere else!""

Stiles Morris looked up at that, "Yes, ma'am, Commander Bayliss… I'd like him for the trials office at Pensacola. He served there both as trial attorney and defence attorney prior to moving to Whideby Island, where he also served on the judiciary, receiving good fitreps as an attorney and as a judge. If possible, I'd like to see him transferred to the judiciary on a permanent basis."

Longstreet nodded, "Anyone else want to put in a counter-bid? No? Alright then, I'll have a look at his SRB and get back to you Admiral Morris. Anyone else?"

Admiral Beauregard raised his head, "Yes, if Manetti passes her selection board for O-6, then I would like to see her as CO of JSLO South West vice Captain Burns. He hasn't been selected for flag rank, so he's butting up against the up or out requirements. And to be frank, he's no great shakes as a CO down there, although that may not be entirely his fault. That office has never really settled since it was set up."

There were nods of the head all round. General Cresswell, the JAG of the day had made a couple of bad decisions on the manning of that office and his refusal to countenance the personnel reports by the then CO had led to a highly unpleasant fraternisation scandal that had led ultimately in the SecNav requesting the General's resignation as part of a deal to enable him to escape charges of Dereliction of Duty and to retain his benefits. The two officers involved had both been dismissed the service charged with fraternisation and adultery, and it seemed that JSLO South West had never really, despite four changes of CO in six years, regained its equilibrium.

"Why Manetti?" Longstreet asked.

"She knows how the game is played, and she has a non-confrontational manner. She plays well with others and she is strictly by the book. Make no mistake though, behind that soft accent and southern belle exterior she's as tough as whit leather."

"Again… I'll read through her SRB and let you know… but as you say, it all depends on her passing the board…"

And so it went on, each person on the list being discussed and in about half the cases on the spot tentative decisions were made for their future employment and Harm as Chief of Staff was kept busy noting who was to go where, and he knew that in those cases where individuals were being posted in to a billet already occupied by another officer, then it would be up to him to research suitable vacancies and make the appropriate recommendations to Admiral Longstreet. At one point he surreptitiously passed his handkerchief over his brow, and although he knew that the whole process had been initiated at very short notice, he couldn't help wishing that he'd had a little more of a heads up.

Eventually, however, the conference wound down and Harm gratefully picked up his legal pad, now with four or five pages closely covered in his angular hand-writing and headed back to what he was fast coming to think of as not just his office but his sanctuary.

His appearance was shrewdly summed up by Diane Letterwood as he opened the door to the outer office, and with a smile she asked, "Coffee, sir?"

"God! Yes, and thank you!" Harm looked shrewdly at the young woman. Even in the short time he'd been back at JAG he had quickly realised that he was going to have to depend a great deal on his Yeoman's goodwill, and if he was to develop the same sort of working relationship he'd had with his Yeomen in London and Naples, then he needed to show some degree of confidence in her. The decision made, he smiled easily, "You know, Yeoman Two, if I wasn't about to be happily married, I'd hug you 'most to death for that thought!"

Diane Letterwood gaped at her boss as the colour mounted to her cheeks, "You're getting married, sir? Congratulations!"

"I am. And I'm taking a week's leave next month to do just that, so if you have any accumulated leave on the books, that would be a good time to take it too!"

"Oh… yes, sir! I will! And sir, thanks for the heads up!"

"Thanks in plenty will be found in that mug of coffee you suggested," Harm smiled, his hand on the handle of the inner office door.

"Coffee! Aye, aye, sir!" Diane grinned and bustled off to conjure the desired brew.


End file.
